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Airport project complete

By Staff | Oct 25, 2013

Chris Bieri/PCT The apron at the Rugby Municipal Airport was recently replaced at a cost of more than $900,000 funded mostly from federal taxes that the airport authority saved until it had money for such a large project.

A more than $900,000 project to replace the apron ramp at the Rugby Municipal Airport has been completed, according to airport authority president Hartley Hageness.

Hageness said the project was funded mostly by a yearly allowance of around $150,000 that the airport received from federal excise taxes.

In total, the replacement estimate was $927,291, which included engineering fees. Strata Concrete earned the bid for just more than $861,000.

“They did a nice job,” Hageness said. “The grass is all seeded. It looks great. They finished ahead of schedule and it looks really nice.”

The project was scheduled to take about two months and has been completed for a couple of weeks, Hageness said.

Hageness said the project also helped alleviate some water issues near the airport by funneling water out toward the ditch on a different path.

The new apron is slightly smaller than the previous one, with an area near the fuel pumps being left the same.

Hageness said the authority has no plans for future projects and will likely save federal funds for another bigger project. They may also loan some of their funds to other airports working on major projects, a common practice in the industry.

Hageness said the airport is critical for Rugby and used more than people think.

“We have flights in every week from Bismarck,” he said. “We have a number of business airplanes that go in and out and Steve (Schneider) runs the spray service out of there. It’s surprising, it may go a few days without having anything but then we’ll have 2-3 airplanes in there. Steve and his crew do a really nice job of maintaining it.”