Carson Airport runway master plan calls for $25 million work over 20 years

The preliminary draft for the Carson City Airport's new master plan calls for $25 million in improvements over the next 20 years, including a realigned runway and new taxiways.

The Federal Aviation Administration has insisted on a new master plan, the airport's first since 1989, before Carson City applies for a $7 million to $10 million grant to rebuild the runway.

Coffman Associates unveiled the final components of the master plan Wednesday to the Carson City Airport Authority. The Lee's Summit, Mo., airport consulting firm has worked on the master plan for more than a year.

The sections discussed Wednesday involved the airport and financial plans. The public comment period remains open until Sept. 15.

The discussion of master planning earlier this year stirred neighborhood turmoil because some suggestions for runway realignment would have condemned up to 100 homes. The realignment ultimately chosen does not require any home acquisitions.

Before any master plan elements are carried out, the airport will perform $530,000 in runway repairs to fill cracks and slurry seal the surface until the new runway is built, possibly in 2002. Runway work is scheduled for Oct. 2 to Nov. 10.

"We are recommending that the airport remain a single runway airport," said Chris Hugunin, senior planner for Coffman Associates. "What we see is a large demand for aircraft storage and there isn't much area we can do that (other than the northwest quadrant of airport property)."

That area is presently mostly vacant with a taxiway that serves as an emergency runway for ultralight aircraft.

The draft master plan looks at the runway and taxiways in the short term and the long term.

The short term calls for replacing 5,900-foot runway 9-27 with a 6,100-foot runway. Plans call for swinging the east end of the new runway about 300 feet north of the present runway. The west end would remain on the present runway but end 400 feet farther east.

In the long term, 10 to 20 years, this realigned runway could be lengthened to 6,700 feet and widened from 75 to 100 feet.

Runway, taxiway and land acquisition amount to much of the proposed $25 million, 20-year program. FAA funds would pay the lion's share but Carson City would have to match with $1.6 million.

Earlier chapters of the master plan released during the course of the year provided an inventory of airport facilities, determined facility requirements, provided a forecast of aviation activity through 2020 and provided several alternatives on how to rebuild the runway.

The Carson City Airport Authority will revisit the master plan Sept. 11. After that, Coffman will take all public and authority comments and incorporate them into the master plan.