Not all the towers in the AEP power line lowering project east of the Warsaw Municipal Airport will end up being the same height.
County Councilmen Dave Wolkins and Delynn Geiger attended the Warsaw Board of Aviation Commissioners meeting Tuesday. Wolkins wanted to know how much the power lines were actually going to be lowered.
Nick King, airport manager responded, “Each tower is a little bit different. So, we are underneath our Part 77 Airspace for the future planned expansion of the airport. So, the ultimate runway length, we have made sure that, as far out as we would ever need that runway to go, we’re below that.”
He explained that there isn’t a set amount of height that the towers are coming down because power lines do not transverse the airport runway’s center line at an exact 90-degree angle. They’re more diagonal.
“The further away they get from the airport, the higher those towers can be. And so to reduce cost on the project ... so when the wires come down, they can not be below 50 feet. And so the further away they get from the airport, the further spaced apart those towers can be to still maintain that minimum sag elevation,” King said. “So right on our runway center line, they’re closer together. And the further away you get, they’re further apart, so they go back up to that 150, 160 feet.”
The most a tower is being lowered is about 90 to 95 feet, and that’s right on the center line.
Board President Dan Robinson said they’re being cut about in half, though that’s not exact.
The project is also known as the runway 9-27 obstruction mitigation project and is at the end of the east/west runway at the airport. The nearly $8 million project is being funded by grants.
Ranjit Bhandari, civil engineer with CHA Consulting Inc., the airport’s engineering firm, provided the board with some project updates, starting with the power line lowering project. He said construction is ongoing at this time, and weekly progress meetings are occurring.
The project demobilization is scheduled at the end of May.
Bhandari presented two CHA invoices, both of which the board approved. The first was for $15,047.99, with the local share being $752.40; and the second was for $3,421.58, with the local share being $171.08.
King then showed some photos of the project from Saturday morning compared to Tuesday.
“As you guys can see, they’re working on getting everything ready. They’ve got all the lines - from what it looks like - strung to the first set, and then they’ll start pulling them down,” he said. “They’re moving quickly and getting a lot done.”
Board Vice President John Yingling said the photo, which showed the new towers and old towers, provided a whole new perspective on just how low the lines will be.
Next, Bhandari gave the board a CHA invoice for the taxiway B (north/south) rehabilitation For $22,385.70. The local share is $1,119.28.
“We are working towards 75% design right now. Anticipated completion of 75% plan specification is on March 28. We are targeting to complete the design work by June ... so we can have bids in hand by the June deadline for (grant) application,” he said.
Yingling asked if the rehabilitation project was going to totally shut down the taxiway.
“No,” King responded. “I’m working with CHA on that. We’re not ready to publicly release what our phasing is on that because we’re still working through (it).”
With the airport doing the project on runway 9-27 as well, King said there’s a lot of safety phasing that they’re working through, but it will not shut down the entire taxiway all at once.
The board approved the invoice.
The last invoice Bhandari requested be approved by the board was for $28,333.20 for the runway 9-27 rehabilitation project.
“I submitted 90% design documents to Nick earlier today. So, we are towards issuing bid documents toward the end of March, currently scheduled for March 28. So this Thursday I’m planning to meet with Nick” and review the plans, he said.
Project bid opening is targeted for late April, with construction planned to start in early fall.
The board approved for CHA to advertise and commence the public bidding phase of the project, as well as the invoice.
Later, King reported one of the airport’s mowers is seven years old and he wanted to replace it from More Farm Stores for $22,999, after a $20,000 trade-in. The board approved.
He also requested the board’s permission to negotiate the purchase of Hangar 6-G for between $13,000 to $15,000, subject to city attorney Scott Reust’s approval. The board approved.
The next board meeting is at 5:15 p.m. April 8.