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Pitkin County will be required to spend $1.4 million more than anticipated for repairs to the runway, general aviation northern ramp and taxiway areas in May.
Portions of the runway were milled and the pavement overlaid less than two years ago, but longitudinal cracks have appeared.
“It’s cracking (along) the centerline of the runway,” Aspen-Pitkin County Airport Director Dan Bartholomew told county commissioners last week. “A lot of this is cosmetic but it goes down far enough that we need to address it. One of the concerns with it is we repaired this exact same pavement 18 months ago.”
And that’s where a hitch comes in. The Federal Aviation Administration has strict rules on when funds can be used again in areas where it already provided funding for repairs.
<That requires Pitkin County to dip into its unrestricted fund reserves at the airport to repair portions of the runway that were previously repaired less than 10 years ago. The commissioners unanimously approved a supplemental budget request for $1.4 million on Wednesday.
The issue gets confusing because the FAA also has provided a multimillion-dollar grant to help with a broader repaving project scheduled for May, according to Pitkin County Manager Jon Peacock. The grant can be used for repaving in areas of the runway, ramp, taxiway and aprons that have not been repaired within the last 10 years with the help of the FAA, he said. Other areas, such as the general aviation ramp, aren’t eligible for use of FAA grants.
The airport will be closed May 6-23 for pavement repairs and maintenance.
Bartholomew said the county has ample funds in reserve, though that removes them from other potential uses.
“This year we’re doing $7 million in repairs, 90% with the FAA funds and this additional $1.4 million on top of that,” he said. “Next year it will be all on the airport’s dime. There’s no grant funding for the airport.”
A consultant for the county discovered in December that the runway pavement was deteriorating under the surface to the degree where the runway will have to be rebuilt rather than just maintained at some point. Bartholomew said a portion of the soils are clay that hold water and accelerate deterioration. It’s likely that the county will have to perform annual repairs to the runway until it is rebuilt and drainage is addressed. The expense next year could be $7 million to $9 million on the county’s dime.
“Unfortunately, we will repair it this year and likely repair it again next year,” Bartholomew said.
Commissioner Francie Jacober said Wednesday that deterioration of the runway emphasizes the need for the county to decide where to build a new runway and get a proposal approved by the FAA in an Airport Layout Plan so it will be eligible for funding. The county cannot keep funding the multimillion-dollar patch jobs, she said.
“I do think that is a significant impact on our budget and it will continue to be so,” Jacober said. “I wanted to remind people we need work at the airport now. The sooner we make decisions and actually get a new runway, the better off the airport’s going to be and everybody that flies in and out.”
Bartholomew said cracks in the airport runway have spread longitudinally this winter along the runway centerline due to frost heaves within the runway. Airport workers make multiple daily inspections to pick any debris produced by the heaving.
“It is anticipated that any repairs to the cracks can be deferred until the May 2024 runway closure, unless additional deterioration is detected prior to that time,” he wrote in a memo to the commissioners.
Repairs to the north ramp of the general aviation area are necessary simply because it is beyond its useful public life.
The runway repair will consist of a four-inch depth milling or shaving off the older asphalt and overlaying with new asphalt laid 2,500 feet along and 5 feet wide.