A final inspection of the new runway at the Chillicothe Municipal Airport was made Friday morning. The engineer, Chris Flageolle of Lochner says the new runway is expected to be ready by this weekend.
The runway replacement project started in March, with the removal of the asphalt runway that was overdue for replacement. The 4,000-foot runway was reconstructed from the base up and was built with concrete, increasing the load capacity for the aircraft from 16,000 pounds to 60,000 pounds. Flageolle says this opens the runway up to a larger class of corporate jets.
In addition to the runway, the nearly $4 million project includes replacing the PAPI lights with LED lighting, and the wind cone was replaced.
Mayor Thersa Kelly thanked all those involved in the project.
The work by the contractor, Ideker Construction of St. Joseph was completed ahead of schedule and under budget. On the $4-million dollar project, the City of Chillicothe is responsible for $400,000.
