Victoria Regional Airport wins FAA grant; court approves parking-lot rehab bid and schedules runway closure

The Victoria County Commissioners Court received a fully executed airport infrastructure grant totaling $1,427,043 for runway 13/31 reconstruction preliminary engineering and terminal parking-lot reconstruction and approved a $481,417.50 bid to rehabilitate the airport terminal parking lots.

Lenny, an airport staff presenter, told the court the Federal Aviation Administration transmitted the fully executed grant and the county is coordinating construction so parking-lot work can occur while the runway is closed for reconstruction. Lenny said the runway will be shut down after the morning flight on Aug. 4 and will reopen for the afternoon flight on Sept. 5; the county is negotiating a construction contract and hopes to present it for approval next week.

On the parking-lot project the court received three bids. The bid tabulation and recommendation from Centurion Planning and Design led to a base-bid award of $481,417.50 to the low bidder; the court authorized the county judge to execute an agreement pending legal review. Bidders listed included Albright Construction, CK Newbury and a contractor identified in the bid tabulation as JE Construction; the winning bidder serves airports in the Corpus Christi area, the court noted.

Court members discussed coordinating sequencing so the parking lots are paved while the runway is closed, reducing repeated disruptions. The court received the fully executed FAA grant and approved the parking-lot award by motion and unanimous vote.

The airport director and county staff will return with a contract for construction and additional scheduling details; staff noted weather (rain) could affect the timeline. The court did not take additional funding actions at this meeting.