Taxiway Lighting Upgrade Begins at Greenbrier Valley Airport

An Elkins company is expected to begin work this week on a long-anticipated $1.5 million FAA-funded project to improve taxiway lighting and signage at Greenbrier Valley Airport in Maxwelton.

Airport director Brian Belcher explained that among the wiring tasks that Universal Engineering & Contracting LLC (UEC) will tackle is the relocation of the facility’s beacon light, which will be moved to the top of the air traffic control tower. That task will be put off until the final phase of the project, Belcher said, due to social distancing protocols inside the tower put in place by the Federal Aviation Administration for the duration of the COVID-19 health crisis.

During the expected six months of electrical work, UEC will also be the airport’s tenant, Belcher advised the Greenbrier County Airport Authority in a Thursday meeting, conducted via Zoom.

The company usually parks its trucks and RVs at the West Virginia State Fairgrounds when working long-term in Greenbrier County, but the fair’s campground is closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, UEC’s vehicles instead will set up camp in a now-empty lot on airport property that already has all necessary utilities in place.

Authority chairman Deborah Phillips advised that she will have a lease agreement drawn up. Under the terms of that lease, UEC will pay $1,120 a month for the camping space.

Consultant Jon McCalmont with Parrish & Partners also offered more information about the lighting project that has been dubbed “Taxiway A.”

The runway will have to be closed at least 10 times and as many as 20 times during the electrical work, some of which will encroach on the runway safety area. Under new FAA regulations, each time the runway is closed, FAA technicians will have to turn off its navigational aids and will charge the airport for that service, McCalmont said.

“That’s a new requirement,” he said.

The additional charge will have to be squeezed into the project budget, something McCalmont said he believes can be done relatively painlessly.

But the consultant and airport officials are puzzled over what appears to be selective enforcement of the new requirement.

Belcher said he had spoken with officials at other airports with similar projects. Those officials said the Roanoke (Virginia) FAA office is the only one handling it this way. Greenbrier Valley Airport is in Roanoke’s region.

McCalmont concurred, noting, “It seems to be isolated to us.”

— Email: [email protected]

———

©2020 The Register-Herald (Beckley, W.Va.)

Visit The Register-Herald (Beckley, W.Va.) at www.register-herald.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.