Kansas City Council approves spending $26.7 million for runway rehabilitation at KCI

Kansas City International Airport is in line for another round of runway improvements.

The City Council on Thursday approved two measures that call for $26.7 million in runway rehabilitation. The money will be used for the second of a two-phase rehabilitation project of one of the two main north-south runways at KCI.

Aviation Director Mark VanLoh told the council’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that he was seeking approval of a $25.4 million contract with Ideker Inc. of St. Joseph for the rehabilitation work, which includes the removal and replacement of 3,500 feet of 17-inch-thick concrete pavement.

The second measure was for a $1.3 million contract with Burns & McDonnell Engineering Co. for monitoring, inspection and material-testing services relating to the rehabilitation.

Work on the first phase of the rehabilitation of the 10,000-foot runway is just finishing up, VanLoh said. The runway is scheduled to reopen during the winter months.

The new project would begin in the spring.

“We were successful in getting the FAA to come up with the funds to continue this project to completely rebuild an 8,000-to-10,000-foot runway and all the intersections and taxiways associated with it,” VanLoh said.

The contracts will be funded in part by the FAA Airport Improvement Grant Program, which is covering about 75 percent of the costs. The remaining will be paid for by Kansas City airport funds, VanLoh said.

The work is necessary because the pavement installed more than 20 years ago used local limestone aggregates that are susceptible to disintegration and cracking because of the weather.

The work is independent of anything the city decides regarding a new terminal or remodeling of the existing terminals at KCI. Two of the airport’s three terminals are open.

Council members said they had been assured that no matter how the city redevelops the terminals, the runways will not be affected.

The council will hear details Dec. 10 from the Aviation Department concerning the terminal improvement project, including projected costs.

This story was originally published December 3, 2015 at 5:08 PM with the headline "Kansas City Council approves spending $26.7 million for runway rehabilitation at KCI."