Pocatello airport has a big list of projects
In a tour for local officials, Pocatello Regional Airport’s manager David Allen shared the airport’s plans to develop the airport’s 3200 acres and make it safer.
Airport commissioners, county officials and development company representatives were in attendance. Manager David Allen said the point of the tour was to give officials a better idea of the airport’s facilities and show what’s being done.
“They’ve seen this all on paper, now we’ll show it to them out there,” said Allen. “We want to show them what we have, what we have existing and what we are proposing in the future.”
As the tour went on, Allen highlighted parts of the property where infrastructures were slated to be built. Development sites for Project Pipe, Project Solar and additional hangers were highlighted.
Another focus of the tour was how the airport’s making operations safer with runways and taxiways. The airport plans to realign some taxiways in more useful locations to connect runways. Officials also plan to build a parallel taxiway for runway 1735.
Runway and taxiway maintenance is part of the five-year capital improvement plan for the airport, which is modeled after the airport master plan by the Federal Aviation Administration. The airport master plan gives the airport a 20-year outlook on operations and development.
Allen says there are times the capital improvement plan can deviate from the airport master plan.
“Sometimes the projected growth or the projected development doesn’t happen,” he said. “Or sometimes the pavement lasts longer than it’s expected to. We have one runway pavement that’s doing really well, so we’re deferring work on that because it’s not necessary.”
The new passenger boarding bridge was also part of the tour. It’s expected to open later this month. The Pocatello City Council recently added a chapter for the airport for its comprehensive plan.
