Rosalia airport project out for bid

The Town of Rosalia is accepting bids for a project at the Rosalia Municipal Airport. The project includes lighting, improvement of an access road, creating a taxiway and installing fencing.

“It’s pretty straightforward,” said Tim Ike, project engineer with J-U-B Engineers out of Spokane.

Mayor Nanette Konishi said this project is “mostly electrical” but will also include some paving. Her hope is to have it start as soon as possible and completed before winter.

“We’re hoping to have it finished before the snow flies,” she said. “There are some pieces of it that could be saved for the spring, if needed, though.”

Ike indicated that the project could start this fall and stop for the winter, if needed. There is also the option to have it just contracted for next spring, depending on who is awarded the contract.

The project will be paid for out of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) entitlement funds, approximately $600,000, and insurance settlement money stemming from the July 2014 fire at the airport that destroyed a hangar and all its contents. The settlement money is about $400,000. Instead of reconstructing just that hangar, which was large, the town instead decided on smaller hangars and more projects.

“Because we chose not to replace that one hangar, we can do more with the money than recreating just one hangar,” said Konishi.

The option was there to rebuild the previous hangar, but Konishi told the Gazette last year that the hangar would have needed to be built according to state regulations with a number of upgrades from its previous state, including fire suppression, insulation, an elevator and a handicapped accessible restroom, among other things.

The current project includes installing a new medium intensity runway lighting system, new lighted runway distance remaining and hold position signage, a new lighted wind cone, relocating segmented circle, new electrical vault with new regulator, control panel and associated hardware, access road improvements, construction of a hangar taxi-lane and expansion of chain link fencing.

Full project details can be obtained by contacting J-U-B Engineers. The firm has plans and specifications for the project, as well as bid forms and contract documents. Those can be obtained from J-U-B for $50.

The bids are due to the Town of Rosalia by 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 6. A pre-bid meeting is scheduled for this afternoon (Aug. 31) at 2 p.m. at the Rosalia Town Hall.