BAY COUNTY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT AHEAD OF SCHEDULE

Something ahead of schedule. I guess they really want to this to happen. Hats off to all the responsible parties. As many know, this is just another reason Northwest Florida will be home for many more to come and be welcomed.

Bay County airport ahead of schedule
Airport Authority still facing several decisions

By PAT KELLY Florida Freedom Newspapers (850) 747-5076 pkelly@pcnh.com

WEST BAY — A small army of construction workers using huge earth-moving equipment guided by satellites cleared the land and graded the earth on 1,300 acres, preparing for the new airport just north of State Road 388. Standing on smoothed ground where the parking lot will be located, a visitor can see trucks coming and going constantly, scurrying from one end of the treelined horizon to the other, kicking up dust before depositing their loads. So far, more than 4 million cubic yards of material have been moved. When lunch came, as many as 180 workers rumbled their large equipment to the trailerstudded nerve center of the complex and wolfed down prepared meals under communal tents. “It’s a massive project,” said Roy Willett of Kellogg Brown and Root, senior project manager for construction of the Panama City-Bay County International Airport. “There is really nothing like it going on in the country today.” The Airport Authority held a media day Thursday for a tour of the airport site and a briefing on construction. An open house for the public will be from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday so residents can see the progress and ask questions of the project team. “Things are going increasingly well,” Willetts said. He said crews are four months ahead of schedule, and the bed of the 8,400-foot runway is ready for the first layer of asphalt to be poured in preparation for the 14-inch concrete cover. However, Airport Authority members still have decisions to make on the construction of the airport, which is set to open in 2010. For example, the board still is considering whether the concrete for the runway should be poured to a depth of 15 inches, which will increase durability, and whether the length should be increased to 10,000 feet to accommodate larger international flights. Also under consideration is whether or not to rebid the contract for the terminal. The current bid package, which originally came in about $14 million more than expected, must be accepted by Oct. 7. Board members have been working with terminal bidder Walbridge to “value engineer” savings into the original bid of $68.6 million for the terminal, tower and other buildings. Jeff Dealy, program manager for Kellogg, Brown and Root, said 180 workers and 130 pieces of equipment are at the site. The number of workers should increase to about 500 per day when “vertical” construction begins on the air traffic control tower, the terminal and other buildings. When the airport is completed, about 1,000 workers will have had a hand in the construction, Dealy said.