On Nov. 18, the Manhattan City Commission authorized an agreement with Olsson Inc. to begin a new design of Taxiway Alpha at the Manhattan Regional Airport, according to Fly MHK. The design process is set to complete in 2026. Following a finalized plan, the airport will submit a grant to the Federal Aviation Administration for construction and design cost,” Manhattan Regional Airport director Brandon Keazer said. 

Keazer explained the importance of suitable taxiways for airfield operations. 

“The purpose of a taxiway is to basically be a pathway on an airport that connects a runway with a ramp, so it’s a critical component to airfield operations,” Keazer said. “Traditionally, aircrafts will taxi out onto a taxiway and then they’ll switch over and receive their clearance onto the runway from air traffic control towers.”

Manhattan Regional Airport’s main taxiway, Taxiway Alpha, runs parallel to the primary runway with three sections divided by north, middle and south. Each of these sections, Keazer said, needs updates to ensure a safe taxiway.

“Each section has a different age of that pavement,” Keazer said. “The north was installed in 1994, the middle section was [installed in] 1982 and the south section is our newest, which was [installed] in 2002. So what we are trying to do is take advantage of this large grant and replace all the sections at once.”

Keazer said the taxiway is overdue for renovations and the airport has been waiting on the opportunity for “a rather sizable grant” to begin this project. 

“We’ve always had a plan to replace Taxiway Alpha,” Keazer said. “The challenge has always been the funding, and an opportunity came about where we could get a rather sizable grant from the FAA with a split of 95/5. … This has been a long-term planning project. We’ve actually been talking about this project before we started doing their Run Right project, which was started in 2022 and completed in 2023. The FAA has a useful life for pavement of 20 years, and since every section of our taxiway is well beyond that 20 years, it qualifies us to receive this grant.”

The total cost of the project is $1,213,800. The majority is covered by the FAA and the local share matches fund the rest.

Keazer said commercial flights will not be affected during construction. 

“The construction will happen inside the fence, so kind of out of the public’s eye, and most of the time, you probably won’t even know that it’s occurring unless maybe you’re flying out and you open the window to take a look and see the construction. The construction will not impact any of our operations, so our amazing air service for all students flying in and out will still be going on as this construction is occurring.”