The Texas Department of Transportation has awarded Sugar Land Regional Airport $2.8 million to help fund a portion of the airport's project to continue upgrades and safety improvements.
The funds will be used to pay for the removal and replacement of a hangar, which is the first phase of a larger project to make upgrades and improvements necessary for the airport to be compliant with Federal Aviation Administration regulations, said Phillip Savko, Sugar Land Regional Airport director of aviation.
The TxDOT funds will cover 90 percent of the removal and relocation of the hangar. The airport will be responsible for the remaining 10 percent. Savko said the airport will be able to fund its 10 percent in addition to receiving increased rent from the new building.
"This hangar needed to be removed so that the new parallel taxiway can be constructed to FAA regulations covering the distance between runways and parallel taxiways," he said. "This hangar will be constructed on Taxiway J and is one of two hangars that will be replaced. This is the first phase necessary to complete the entire project."
The airport is in the beginning stages of a project to relocate Taxiway Foxtrot, which runs parallel to the runway. To adhere to federal guidelines, the taxiway will be relocated 250 feet away from the runway. The taxiway relocation project will be completed in three parts over the next three years, Savko said. The relocation and construction of the taxiway's center section is expected to begin in spring 2015, with the remaining two sections slated for completion in 2016 and 2017.
"There is a significant amount of work that needs to occur during the next several years," Savko said.
The replacement of the first hangar is in the bidding process. The project to remove and replace the second hangar, which still requires engineering work due to its size and location, is expected to be available for contractor bidding in early 2015. Both hangars must be removed before the relocation of the taxiway can occur.
In preparation for the taxiway relocation, the airport secured approximately 85 acres of former prison land in early 2013. The property known as Smithville lies to the east of the runway and was the former prison guard housing facility for the Central Unit Prison, which was closed in summer 2011 by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
"We needed to acquire 20 acres of land to begin the project," Savko said. "The Texas General Land Office would only sell the property as one parcel, so the airport acquired 85 acres of total land that will be used for drainage and hangars."
The Smithville property was acquired with the assistance of an FAA grant through the TxDOT Aviation Division. Approximately 20 acres of the property will be used for the taxiway relocation and the associated drainage improvements. The additional 65 acres will be available for additional infrastructure improvements or executive hangars. Due to security risks, all the existing housing at Smithville will be removed in the future, Savko said.
An additional 238 acres of former Central Unit Prison property sits to the west of the airport. The city is in negotiations with the state to purchase the land to develop a business park that could include aviation-related businesses. If purchased by the city, the airport will likely acquire approximately 95 of the 238 acres to be used to for western access to the airport and improvements, such as additional corporate hangars, Savko said.
