UCRA Selected In T-DOT Paving Preservation Plan To Repair Runways

The Upper Cumberland Regional Airport one of 21 airports statewide benefiting from a T-DOT asphalt preservation plan.

Manager Dean Selby said the project will strip, reseal and stripe runways, aprons and taxiways.

“Last year, T-DOT went through and they did a pavement assessment with all the airports and they categorized them in terms of the least important to the most important, so now we’re into this phase, which I believe is phase two,” Selby said. “We were in that second group.”

Selby said the state will fund 100 percent of the work. Selby said the paving preservation should begin sometime next month.

“It’s a 6,700-foot runway 100-feet wide and then there is a taxiway that full length and then all of the stub connectors and ramp is probably as many square feet as a runway is,” Selby said. “So there is a lot involved in sealing that much asphalt and restriping that much. On this runway because of the size of it, the edge stripes are three feet wide. That’s a lot of paint.”

Selby said not having to utilize a local share or federal funds is a big win. Selby said the airport is cautiously optimistic since schedule issues are expected with closures of runways.

“I hope this works out well,” Selby said. “I’m sure there will be some growing pains early on with trying to figure out logistics with someone remotely managing a project, but we believe we can make it work.”