Granite will fix Carson airport runway cracks in October

Granite Construction of Sparks will fix nearly 4 miles of cracks in the Carson City Airport runway during nighttime repairs in October and possibly November.

The runway will remain open for daytime landings and takeoffs as cracks are repaired, but the runway will be closed for about a week when Granite finishes the job with a slurry seal coating of the runway surface.

Weather will determine when the slurry sealing will occur - possibly in November if temperatures remain above 55 degrees or not until spring if an early cold spell hits, airport engineer Jim Clague said.

The Carson City Airport Authority on Tuesday awarded the runway repair job to Granite Construction, one of three contractors to bid on the job. Granite's $315,354 bid far outpaced the $477,310 bid from Paragon Associates and the $486,952 bid from T.E. Bertagnolli and Associates.

Clague had estimated the project cost at $530,000. Federal Aviation Administration funding will pay for runway repairs.

Granite will sawcut and fill 20,100 feet of runway cracks generally two inches wide, though some cracks are as wide as four inches, Clague said.

Granite plans to start work in the second week of October unless all paperwork, including insurance and bond requirements, are submitted to the airport authority earlier.

Granite representative Tom O'Day said crack work will take place from about 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Slurry sealing will take about two days but the runway will have to be closed for about a week to allow the seal to cure, Clague said.

Airport users will be notified once dates are determined for the slurry seal closure, airport manager Yvon Weaver said.

Granite has 30 working days to finish the job, though that could stretch out for several months if cold weather delays slurry sealing.

"I think we're going to make it (before it gets too cold)," authority member Ron Kitchen said.

The runway repairs are a short-term fix as the airport authority positions itself to ask the FAA for a $7 million to $10 million grant to realign and reconstruct the airport's one runway.

A new runway will not be built until at least 2002. The crack repair and slurry sealing should last at least four years, airport officials said.