Boise Airport lays out multi-year airfield reconstruction, Concourse A apron work and tenant relocations

Boise — Airport staff told the Boise Airport Commission on March 5 that work on the Concourse A apron and a concurrent East deice-apron expansion will begin in 2025 and that a multi-year program of runway and taxiway reconstruction will continue through 2029.

The airport plans a Concourse A apron phase 1 scheduled for about 90 calendar days in 2025, and an East D deice-apron expansion scheduled for about 83 days, Marcus Green, airport staff, said during the meeting. To construct the apron work safely, portions of Taxiway Alpha and the north runway will be closed to allow back-taxi operations; Green said the closure pattern and back-taxi plan were coordinated with the control tower and the Federal Aviation Administration.

“The tower does not like to have taxiing aircraft on it,” Green said. “This has been coordinated with the tower.”

Why it matters: the apron work makes room for the new Concourse A gates and will add remote overnight/parking positions for air carriers. The 2025 apron work will remove and replace pavement to current design standards — the concrete apron slabs are planned at roughly 16 inches thick — and will create three to four remote overnight parking spots for air carriers, Green said.

Airport staff also warned of operational impacts. The phased work will close some airfield surfaces for periods that Green described as substantial: the combined closures associated with the 2025 phases may leave the north runway closed to taxi for roughly 150 calendar days during portions of the work. That schedule, Green said, should not reduce the number of scheduled commercial flights but could lengthen taxi times and limit some general-aviation training activity such as touch-and-go patterns.

“This may impact some GA with being able to do some training like touch and goes here just because the flight pattern gets so busy with one runway,” Green said.

Longer-term runway work: following the 2025 apron projects, the airport plans a multi-phase reconstruction of Runway 10L/28R. Green said the north runway requires extensive repair discovered during a geotechnical investigation: standing water and areas where asphalt delaminated from underlying lifts required emergency patching and point to broader structural stripping beneath the pavement. As a result, staff now plan to remove and rebuild affected sections to current FAA standards rather than perform a smaller mill-and-overlay.

Green said runway reconstruction phases in later years will include removing a vertical curve to meet current FAA criteria, rebuilding adjacent taxiways (including a planned reconstruction of Taxiway Papa and Taxiway Mike), and realigning thresholds so both runways have identical usable lengths. The program includes phases in 2026, 2027, 2028 and 2029; one reconstruction phase was described as approximately 180 calendar days in duration.

Military coordination and pavement materials: the airport is coordinating with the Idaho Air National Guard because changes in the Guard’s mission could require facilities adjustments. Green said staff and the FAA are discussing whether portions of the south runway should be paved with Portland cement concrete (PCC) rather than asphalt. PCC has higher upfront cost but longer design life and is sometimes required where arresting barriers are installed.

“One of the requirements for the arresting barriers is you have to have 2,000 feet of concrete,” Green said, describing technical factors that drive material choices.

Shade hangars and tenant relocations: the apron work will affect shade hangars on the south side of the field. Green and Director Rebecca Houghton said the airport has identified temporary space in existing tee hangars and other shade hangars to relocate tenants impacted by the 2025 project; staff will prioritize existing tenants on relocation waiting lists. Green cautioned, however, that there is no identified permanent site to relocate all shade hangars and that moving them has tradeoffs for future aeronautical development.

“We have not identified a space to relocate the shade hangars,” Houghton said. “If we relocate the shade hangars, it takes other future aeronautical uses off the table.”

Timing and next steps: Green said the airport is sequencing work to limit the time any single runway is closed and to preserve airfield operations where possible; the airport will continue coordination with the FAA and tenants and expects to return to the commission as plans are refined.

Provenance: The airfield construction update and associated technical details were presented by Marcus Green during the March 5, 2025 Boise Airport Commission meeting. Green introduced the multi-year construction overview and described specific phases, closures and engineering findings that inform the reconstruction program.