By Lindsey Ashley
At this Monday’s meeting of the City of Clare Commissioners, the board approved the proposed sponsor contracts from MDOT and Mead & Hunt for the rehabilitation of airport runway 4/22.
Currently, the Clare airport has two asphalt landing strips: runway 4/22 and runway 9/27. However, the current runway conditions are far from ideal.
In fact, during the runway’s last inspection in 2021, it had a pavement condition index (PCI) of 60 on the 100-point scale.
Recently, the runway has begun to undergo low- to mid-range intensity vertical and diagonal cracking, weathering, and medium-level fatigue cracking. Additionally, it’s expected that the PCI will drop to 53 by 2026, which falls into the fair range of the scale. As of this moment, the exact details of this runway reconstruction remain unclear. However, the airport expects that it will entail a full-depth mill and repave of the runway.
The city’s last major rehab took place over two decades ago, back in 2001. Since 2001, the runway’s conditions have begun to deteriorate as a result of weather, geological shifts, and the passage of time.
As a result, the city seeks to improve these conditions for the good of the pilots and the community at large.
These sponsor contracts come courtesy of MDOT’s newfound block grant from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for airport development projects. Through this aforementioned grant, the city is able to fund the engineering costs of the project.
The total estimated cost for this design work is $181,298, and the price would be split 90/5/5 between federal funding, the state, and the city, respectively. Federal funding would cover $172,207, and the maximum MDOT coverage would be $4,545.
This funding means that the city would only be left covering the remaining $4,546. This contract will span from the date of the finalized signature through the following 20 years.
Due to this project’s infancy, it’s likely that the city will continue to update the public as more information becomes available from MDOT.
