An airplane flies over the taxiway as it prepares to land at the Chehalis-Centralia Airport on Tuesday. A $2.5 million project scheduled to begin next May at the behest of the Federal Aviation Administration will push the two taxiways out to 90-degree angles.
An airplane flies past the diagonal taxiway as it prepares to land at the Chehalis-Centralia Airport on Tuesday. A $2.5 million project scheduled to begin next May at the behest of the Federal Aviation Administration will push the two taxiways out to 90-degree angles.
A $2.5 million project scheduled to begin next May at the behest of the Federal Aviation Administration will push the two taxiways at the Chehalis-Centralia airport out from the 45-degree angle shown above to a 90-degree turn with space for pilots to complete system checks before taking off.
A $2.8 million project to realign two taxiways at the Chehalis-Centralia Airport is scheduled to commence in May following a unanimous vote of approval by the Chehalis City Council on Monday.
The Federal Aviation Administration asked Airport Operations Coordinator Brandon Rakes to make the project a priority and will fund 90 percent of the work on a reimbursement basis. The Washington State Department of Transportation and Chehalis-Centralia Airport are each expected to foot about $140,000 of the bill.
Sterling Breen Crushing, Inc. of Centralia will remove and replace the current 45-degree angle entry points to the the two runways with 90-degree approaches considered standard by the FAA. Run-up areas, similar to shoulder areas found on the side of highways, will be installed as will new runway end identifier lights.
Airport officials tried to complete the project a few years ago, Rakes said, but could not come up with enough funding to do so.
“Sight lines are an issue with the current plan,” Rakes said. “This will standardize our facility with what the expectation is.”
Pilots approaching the runway on the current taxiways can easily see if a plane is flying in to land from one direction, but not from the other.
Chehalis-Centralia operates two runways on a one-mile strip of asphalt. One runway is designated for take-off or landing toward the north end of the property, the other toward the south.
Certain models of high-wing planes can block a pilot from looking down the full length of the runway to make sure there’s no oncoming traffic before pulling out for departure.
“Increased safety for us can lead to an increase in operations as we can safely handle more aircrafts,” Rakes said. “Airports are a conduit for business into a community. People come through here that are movers, shakers and potential investors in the area.”
Construction will be phased over the course of about four months next year in a way that allows the airport to continue operating with only minor adjustments. Workers will complete renovations on one end of the runway before starting the same process on the other.
The ends of the runway will be shortened some while work crews are completing tasks on a particular side. Temporary markers will be set up to show pilots where the active portion of the runway starts and ends. Rakes said pilots will still have plenty of room to land while allowing plenty of buffer space to create a safe work environment during the realignment process.
Once the project is completed, Rakes hopes to continue using FAA funding to address small improvements to airport infrastructure. Other items on his to-do list include building more hangars and an above-ground fuel storage system.
