Expansion of Enid Woodring Regional Airport is one of the largest projects on Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission’s three-year capital improvement program.
Projects at airports in Kingfisher and Woodward also are part of the program, which is for fiscal years 2015 through 2017.
The project will lengthen Woodring’s primary runway some 2,300 feet to 8,000 feet, thus allowing T-38s from Vance Air Force Base to land and take off from there. T-6s and T-1s from Vance already use Woodring for training.
Funding for the project is coming from several sources. According to Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission figures, OAC is contributing $2.5 million in FY 2015; Federal Aviation Administration is contributing nearly $2 million; Oklahoma Department of Transportation is paying $500,000; Oklahoma Strategic Military Planning Commission is pitching in $737,414; and the city of Enid is contributing $3.3 million. Total funding for the project is about $9.1 million.
Kingfisher Municipal Airport is scheduled to receive $83,879 from OAC during FY 2015 for a project to install new medium-intensity lights along the runway.
“This project will provide dependable runway lighting during periods of inclement weather and night-time operations,” according to OAC. “This project will enhance the safety of the airport.”
The city of Kingfisher will contribute $4,415 to the project.
West Woodward Regional Airport is scheduled to receive $190,126 from OAC in FY 2015 for a project to rehabilitate part of the main apron, the taxilane to the hangar area and runway lighting.
The projet already has received about $1.61 million from FAA.
Pavement on the apron has been deteriorating, according to OAC, and rehabilitating the pavement “will protect the base structure and extend the life of the pavement.”
Existing runway lights at the Woodward airport have reached the end of their service life and fail on a regular basis.
“New runway lights will improve the safety of the airport by being more reliable, as well as visible to pilots,” according to OAC.
The city of Woodward is contributing $94,808 to the project, which has a total cost of about $1.9 million.
Two dozen communities across the state will share in money from the aeronautics commission’s capital improvement plan. A total of nearly $60 million — $14 million in state funds — is expected to be spent on projects in the CIP over the next three years.
Other projects include a $3.4 million runway rehabilitation project at Tulsa-R.L. Jones-Riverside Airport and a $3.1 million project at Oklahoma City’s Wiley Post Airport to upgrade the airfield electrical system. A $2.8 million project to rehabilitate the main runway and portions of the parallel taxiway system at Wiley Post Airport also is planned.