FNL project will begin Aug. 15

LOVELAND -The Fort Collins-Loveland airport received $6.2 million for the runway rehabilitation project that will shut down the airport’s only primary runway for two weeks beginning Aug. 15.

The grant covers 95 percent of the cost of the project, Licon said, and the other 5 percent will be split evenly between the State of Colorado and FNL.  The total of all three sources of funding will equal just over $7 million, Licon said.

Due to the recent FAA work stoppage that made it impossible to collect or distribute funds, officials at the airport thought their project was doomed to wait another year, and that they had scheduled a two-week shutdown for nothing.

Following a bit of scolding from U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Congress passed a budget extension Aug. 5 that allows the FAA to continue functioning until the middle of September, at which point Congress will have to revisit the matter.

FAA employees went back to work Aug. 8, at which point FNL’s grant request was one of the first to receive attention because it was initially received so long ago.  FNL was informed that it would receive the funds Friday.

Corporate and private aircraft normally hangared at FNL are being relocated to nearby airports while the project is completed, Licon said. Smaller aircraft can use the airport’s secondary runway.

For more on this story, see the Aug. 12 issue of the Northern Colorado Business Report.