By Paul Minnis, The Republic
pminnis@therepublic.com
A $1.7 million stimulus grant soon will land at Columbus Municipal Airport to buy and install a new emergency power generator.
The generator will replace one 30 years old that feeds the terminal, airfield and tower when primary power is lost, Airport Manager Rod Blasdel said.
Part of the money will pay for construction of a building specifically to house the generator. Blasdel said the current generator is in the terminal, running noisily when it operates.
He did not know yet where the new generator and building will go. Completion should come before the year ends, he said.
The federal government as of Monday had issued more than $3.3 million to Bartholomew County under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to jolt the national economy.
Commonly called stimulus funds, the money mainly goes toward educational programs, road paving and reconstruction, law enforcement and transportation.
Blasdel included generator funding among his 13 requests to the Indiana Department of Transportation, which passed all the requests to the federal government.
He said this is the first one granted. The airport has not received any of the $1.7 million, which INDOT likely will give piecemeal during installation.
Bidding for installation will come probably in four or five weeks, coinciding with bids to resurface the primary runway that probably will see work performed on a similar schedule.
Federal Aviation Administration will pay $4.5 million via its Airport Improvement Plan for the runway rehabilitation, which will cover the runway's length of more than a mile.
Generator installation will include extensive wiring and tie-ins with runway lighting, which needs a reliable generator to ensure it never leaves pilots in the air at risk, Blasdel said.
Though the 30-year-old generator works well, it requires a lot of diesel and is expensive to maintain. Blasdel said the new unit will be more efficient on diesel and will require less maintenance.
Before news of the stimulus grant, generator replacement was on the airport's nine-year action plan for projects that could be performed just a few at a time because of limited funds.
Blasdel said the grant strikes generator replacement from the list, eventually freeing money for other projects later.