Citrus County aviation staff: FDOT grant secures work to fix sinkhole at Crystal River runway
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Summary
Citrus County aviation staff said an FDOT grant and contractors are lined up to grout and repave a sinkhole at Crystal River Airport; work could begin once FDOT signs the grant and may take a few days to weeks depending on underground conditions.
Citrus County aviation staff said they have secured state grant funding and contractors to repair a sinkhole at Crystal River Airport and aim to begin work as soon as Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) approves the grant documents.
Todd Regan, aviation project manager, told the Citrus County Aviation Advisory Board that the repair job “it's gonna cost about $138,000 I was able to get a grant for 157,000 in case that we end up using more grout to fix this sinkhole.” He said Tierra will provide QA/QC monitoring and testing for grout work, and a paving contractor is standing by for asphalt repair.
Why it matters: The sinkhole affects an end of the Crystal River runway and has prompted temporary runway-displacement measures and an operational response. Restoring the pavement quickly reduces operational disruption for tenants and transient aircraft and limits further safety and maintenance exposure.
Regan said the county has contractors ready and that, after FDOT signs the grant, he expects to press his contact at FDOT until approval is returned. “As soon as I have that, off to the races. So theoretically, work could begin next week? Yeah. Absolutely,” he said. He cautioned, however, that the airport’s karst geology introduces uncertainty: “As we start pumping grout into that sinkhole, we're not really gonna know until it could be more or less than what was actually quoted.”
Regan reported that the FDOT grant covers an 80/20 match (described in meeting materials as an FDOT grant) and that the county currently expects to spend roughly $31,000 of county funds on the repair after grant support. He identified Tierra and Superior as contractors for monitoring and asphalt work, respectively.
Board members asked about the timeline and whether temporary runway-closure procedures have been coordinated with FDOT and the Federal Aviation Administration; Regan said determining the correct closure procedure is a top priority and that he had not completed that coordination yet but was working on it.
Ending: Regan said he will push for FDOT’s final approval and that, depending on underground conditions uncovered during grouting, the onsite work itself could take “a couple days,” with a two-week window mentioned as a possible timeframe to finish repairs and restore normal operations.
