KC Downtown Airport Needs $800,000 to Fix Sinkhole the Size of a 'Small Swimming Pool'
Kansas City airport officials have asked that $800,000 be allocated to fix a sinkhole the size of a “small swimming pool” at the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport.
The City Council Transportation Infrastructure and Operations committee voted unanimously Wednesday to approve the extra funds, and the full City Council is expected to vote on the issue Thursday.
According to city staff, 14 sinkholes opened up at the downtown airport in 2019 following heavy rains and flooding last spring. Five were deemed critical, including one at the base of the Buck O’Neill Bridge and another that caused the collapse of Lou Holland Drive.
Mike Waller, a senior planner with the Kansas City Aviation Department, told the Infrastructure and Operations Committee on Wednesday that the sinkholes also threatened the structural integrity of an aircraft parking apron and hangar.
Four of the five critical sinkholes have been fixed, Waller said, but he asked the committee to approve additional funds to fix the remaining one, which lies near the primary runway. He said it needs to be resolved to keep it from growing and threatening the runway itself.
The remaining critical sinkhole is about 40 feet wide by 40 feet long, said airport spokesman Joe McBride. It sits on the northeast side of the airfield in a grassy area about 400 feet east of the runway and 150 feet from the Runway Safety Area.
Because of reduced rainfall recently, McBride said, the “emergency situation has dissipated.” However, he said, airport officials would need to shut down the runway if the problem is not fixed before the sinkhole expands into the Runway Safety Area.
Furthermore, McBride said, “it’s not just a big hole, there’s pipes and drains that have been compromised with the rain” that has filled the sinkhole.
The $800,000 requested will be used to fill the hole, add dewatering wells and repair and replace drainage systems, McBride said. The money will be pulled from existing airport revenue.
Sinkholes are a common issue at the downtown airport because it was built in a flood plain, McBride said. Some years the problem is larger than others.
“(The sinkhole problem is) probably not going to go away but we just have to watch it and fix it as we can,” McBride said.
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