by Shea Smith / photos provided by Brandon Keazer, Airport Director
Manhattan Regional Airport’s Taxiway Alpha is set to undergo replacement construction next year. The pavement is 20 years old or older, which the FAA says is the useful-life standard.
Taxiway Alpha is the primary parallel taxiway at the airport, at roughly 7,400 feet long and 50 feet wide, and that’s why Airport Director Brandon Keazer said construction will be done in five phases.
“One of my items that I worked with the [design] consultant right off the get-go is that we wanted to phase this construction in a way that it does not impact commercial operations, private operations, or even public operations at the airport,” he said.
“The reason for those phases is to allow aircraft to always have access from any of our four ramps to our primary runway.’’
While there will be upgrades, there won’t be any new features to the taxiway, Keazer said.
“This taxiway is just going back to the same dimensions that are existing. It [the taxiway] will be built to new standards, [though]. One of the upgrades that will come from it is that our taxiway lights will be moved to LEDs with this project.”
He said the airport was ‘lucky’ to get two FAA grants totaling nearly $15 million. That will cover about 95% of the cost, with $800,000, or about 5%, locally funded.
Keazer said that’s a deal for Manhattan taxpayers.
“So [it’s] a $16 million, roughly, project that the local city of Manhattan only has to pay $800,000 for.”
Construction is expected to start in March 2027 and projected to complete in mid-November 2027.