Chaffee County airport awaits FAA AIP grant before issuing notice to proceed for Taxiway Alpha

Chaffee County airport officials said they are waiting for the Federal Aviation Administration to issue an Airport Improvement Program grant before they give a notice to proceed on the Taxiway Alpha project.

“We are literally just waiting on the FAA to issue the grant for that project,” said Zach Papp, airport manager. “So once it get the FAA issues that AIP grant, we can give the notice to proceed to Pyramid Construction and start moving forward on that.”

The AIP grant status determines whether the airport will formally authorize Pyramid Construction to begin pavement and related taxiway work. Papp said the taxiway ties into apron and fuel-farm work and that contractor scheduling argues for coordinating the two projects when practical. No formal motion or vote on construction authorization was recorded at the meeting.

Airport staff emphasized that the timeline depends on the FAA’s issuance of the grant. “Once it get the FAA issues that AIP grant, we can give the notice to proceed,” Papp said, describing the next contractual step.

Board members and advisors discussed sequencing construction to minimize rework where the taxiway connects to the apron. The discussion noted related site work that may be handled under a change order to the contractor currently performing the taxiway contract.

Background: The FAA’s AIP program provides federal funds for airport capital projects; airport officials said they will not issue the contractor’s notice to proceed until the AIP grant is issued. The meeting included routine approvals (the minutes were approved with a spelling correction) and no board action formally approving construction at this session.

Looking ahead, staff said they will notify the board when the FAA grant is issued and when they are ready to deliver a notice to proceed to Pyramid Construction.