Jonesboro airport gains final cash for major runway improvement--from the Jonesboro Sun's Keith Inman

JONESBORO — Officials with the Jonesboro Municipal Airport have been scraping together the money for a project to accommodate larger aircraft for almost a decade.

Finally, construction is expected to begin this summer, thanks to the official approval last week of $3,855,000 in funding.

The money comes from an Airport Improvement Grant from the Federal Aviation Administration.

It was the final piece of the money needed to strengthen the 6,400-foot-long runway and taxiway to accommodate Airbus, Boeing 737 or similar aircraft. To accomplish that, the airport will need to add more than 45 tons of asphalt to the runway surface.

George Jackson, the airport’s manager, told?The Sun?Wednesday the planning for this $11 million project stretches back at least to 2014.

“It’s five grants, but it’s one bid,” Jackson said of the project. “It’s bid out as one job, but each of these grants paid for pieces of it.”

White River Materials of Batesville was the lone bidder. Jackson said the airport’s consulting engineers are negotiating a final price with the company that hopefully will match the amount of federal funding that has been made available over the past few years.

However, about $400,000 in local money will be needed to help pay for maintaining the runway at its current 150-foot width. The FAA has a policy of only funding the cost of 100-foot-wide pavement improvements. The agency agreed to allow local funds to pay the difference for the wider improvements.

Still on the horizon is further improvement to the runway. The City of Jonesboro received a separate $5 million grant to pay for lengthening the runway to 7,000 feet. That improvement will be constructed later, Jackson said.

The airport is still in the process of rebuilding many facilities that were destroyed in the March 2020, tornado. Money for a new terminal building and other structures will be paid from about $12 million in insurance coverage.

The Jonesboro grant announced last week was among 20 awarded to airports across the state. Each airport receives federal funding annually, based on an entitlement formula that takes into account the amount of the airport’s traffic. The funding comes from taxes on aviation fuel.

Jonesboro’s annual entitlement is $150,000, Jackson said. For this project, Jonesboro will receive $860,000 of entitlement funding, including advance payment of the entitlement formula through 2026. That means no more entitlement funding will be available to Jonesboro until federal fiscal year 2026.

The additional funding is discretionary money, based on the importance of the project.

Jackson said the area’s congressional delegation, U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford, senators John Boozman and Tom Cotton and their staffs played important roles in helping Jonesboro gain the funding for these projects.

The South Arkansas Regional Airport at El Dorado also received discretionary funds and advance entitlement funding totaling $4.2 million for a similar project.

In Northeast Arkansas, the grants include:

Walnut Ridge Regional Airport – $135,000 in entitlement funding to pay for installation of a runway vertical/visual guidance system.

Kirk Field at Paragould – $157,050 in entitlement funding to rehabilitate runway signage and markings and install a runway guidance system

Newport Regional Airport – $516,411 in entitlement funding to rehabilitate a runway.

Pocahontas Municipal Airport – $472,000 in entitlement funding to reconstruct taxiway lighting.

Blytheville Municipal Airport – $280,000 in entitlement funding to seal apron pavement surface, pavement joints and seal taxiway pavement surface and pavement joints.