Chris Bieri/PCT The Rugby Municipal Airport is undergoing a more than $900,000 project to replace the apron, most of which was funded by federal and state grants.

After saving grant money over the course of a number of years, the Rugby Municipal Airport has awarded a contract for a major project set to start late this summer.

The project, likely to start in August and last around two months, is to replace the apron at the airport, according to airport authority president Hartley Hageness.

“We’ve got a grant every year for the past few years for $150,000 and that’s piled up and built up,” Hageness said.

The bid on the project was awarded to Strata for $861,575. In total, the replacement is estimated to cost $927,291, which would include engineering fees.

“We’ve made some cuts to get it back (to that price),” Hageness said.

Nearly all of it will be paid from the storage of federal grants received throughout the years, except $104,000 needed to be raised locally.

Hageness said that will be funded through hangar rentals and other sources.

The new apron will actually be slightly smaller than the current one.

“To save money, we chose not to replace the area by the fuel pumps,” Hageness said.

Hageness said the replacement should also help to ease water issues that have traditionally occurred near the airport.

The airport authority had the option of constructing a temporary taxiway at the cost of just under $120,000, but instead opted to close the airport for the term of the project.

“We decided not to exercise the option, which was roughly $120,000 to go with a temporary taxiway and we’re just going to shut the airport down,” Hageness said. “It’ll make it really hard on Schneider Aerial because he’s going to be busy in the fall.”

Hageness said the authority has continued to make updates to keep the airport as an asset to the area.

“The airport is used a lot more than most people think it is,” Hageness said. “It’s used for sprayers and for doctors flying in and out, medical flights coming in and out. We’ve been very active as an airport board to add things to improve the airport. We just added a new storage building. The airport is kept up nice. It’s nice for a town the size of Rugby.”