UCRA Receives Grant To Study Above-Ground Fuel Tanks

The Upper Cumberland Regional Airport will use grant funding to design and study new above-ground fuel tanks.

Manager Dean Selby said a new ‘fuel farm’ would accommodate the airport’s recent increase in traffic.

“We’re looking at increasing the capacity to where we can service the increase traffic we’re having and be able to handle possibly even more in the future,” Selby said. “What this grant does is allow us to begin the design phase to eventually remove our in-ground tanks and create a fuel farm on one side of the field.”

The nearly $57,000 grant will cover costs to design the two tanks. The tanks will be located at separate ends of the airport with different fuel types to keep air traffic separated.

Selby said the new fuel farm will be a much needed upgrade for the airport.

“Our in-ground tanks are nearing 30 years old or possibly a little over 30 years,” Selby said. “30-year-old in-ground tanks, you know, that’s getting towards the end of their life cycle so it’s time for us to start planning this, and this will be about a four-year project.”

Selby said the project timeline will vary based on what happens during the design phase.

“The phasing and the timing’s based on the engineering work that’s done,” Selby said. “They may say ‘we need to do this first or that first.’ There’s a lot. It sounds like something simple but there’s a lot of moving parts to make that happen.”

Selby expects the design phase of the project to be completed by the end of the next fiscal year.