Ground broken for new airport traffic control tower
April 9, 2010
CHARLES G. ANDERSON SR. Special to Reporter News
Groundbreaking for a new airport traffic control tower brought smiles to the faces of a large crowd Thursday at Abilene Regional Airport as Mayor Norman Archibald announced that Abilene was ready to begin construction on the $9.24 million project.
The city has worked since 2001 on the project to build the 140-foot tower. Special guests were Deborah Johnson with the Federal Aviation Administration and U.S. Rep. Randy Neugebauer.
The new tower adds to the construction that has been in progress at the airport since 2005, said Don Green, airport manager. He estimated that about $25 million had been spent since that time on projects including a ramp, which is still in progress, a parking lot, and terminal remodeling.
“No stimulus money has been used on any of this work,” Green said.
The new tower, funded by the FAA, will be located on a 3.28-acre site east of the existing 62-foot tower that has been used for nearly 50 years.
Johnson said the tower was approved two years ago. She praised the citizens of Abilene for looking to the future. Johnson said air traffic is growing in big cities and it was reaching smaller places as well.
“We want to meet the needs of the future,” she said.
Johnson said the FAA wanted to see the smaller airports grow with those that are larger and have the same safety features.
“We will have a world class tower in Abilene,” Neugebauer told the audience.
Dennis Arnold, projects manager for MW Builder of Texas, Inc., said construction already has begun and will employ 250 different people.
“We should have 80 working at any given time,” he said.
Mark Gardner, air traffic control manager at Abilene Regional Aiport, said he had 22 air traffic controllers at the present time in Abilene.
“We will not be adding any additional air traffic controllers,” he said. “But we do have four more that are training and will be with us soon.”
Gardner said the biggest advantage for a new tower was the visibility.
“Right now we have blind spots,” he said. Gardner said the tower would be equipped with all the latest equipment.
The new 9,000 square-foot building will house administrative offices and has room for training other air-traffic related activities. Green said he did not know how many people would be working in the new tower.
According to an airport press release, the present control tower handled 67,092 takeoffs, landings or overflights in 2009. Gardner said the overflights included helicopters or other planes within their radius, but did not land. He said there would be some changes when the new tower is completed and some equipment for controlling flights out of the airport’s jurisdiction would move to Dallas.
Gardner said the tower would be completed no later than January 2012.
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