FAA awards Columbia Regional Airport grant for runway improvements

The City of Columbia announced Thursday the Federal Aviation Administration has awarded the Columbia Regional Airport a grant for runway improvements.

The grant is worth $11 million dollars and will be used to rebuild and lengthen runway 13-31.

City officials say the 2009 Airport Master Plan indentified and included in the Airport Layout Plan. That plan called for reconstruction and lengthening of crosswind runway 13-31. City officials say the improvements are critical to improve safety and operations at COU.

City officials say in 2015, the FAA awarded COU a grant to realign Rangeline Road along the eastern border of the COU. They say the realignment was necessary to allow runway 13-31 to be lengthened from 4,400 feet to 5,500 feet. The city says crews finished the Rangeline Road realignment this August.

City officials say they $11 million dollar grant will fund 90 percent of the project costs with the local Transportation Sales Tax funding the remaining 10 percent.

They say the project will consist of:

-The reconstruction of runway 13-31 from a 75 foot wide, 4,400 foot long asphalt surface runway to a 100 foot wide, 5,500 foot long concrete surface crosswind runway.

-The installation of a new taxiway B

-The installation of a new lighting system for runway 13-31 and taxiway B

-The installation of a new vertical/visual guidance system also known as a Precision Approach Path Indicator for runway 13-31

The city says the project is expected to get underway by late fall of this year with a completion date sometime in the summer of 2017.

Stacey Button is the Director of Economic Development. She says, “This is another step outlined in our planning process to position COU as a modern airport which we believe will strengthen our position with airlines to gain additional flights to existing routes, new routes and new carriers.”