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New funding for North Battleford airport

Jun 7, 2017 | 1:59 PM

Cameron McIntosh Airport in North Battleford will be getting some much needed upgrades to its runway thanks to new funding through a provincial and municipal partnership.

The Battlefords MLA Herb Cox joined City of North Battleford Mayor Ryan Bater for a press conference at the airport Wednesday to make the announcement for the estimated $825,000 project.

As part of the province’s Community Airport Partnership (CAP) program, the province will provide the main funding of $275,000 or 33 per cent of the cost – the maximum the ministry can contribute for the program – while the City of North Battleford will be contributing $550,000 through the city’s capital program (67 per cent of the project cost). The upgrade work will be done this summer.

“I’m thrilled,” Bater said of the provincial support for the project. “The airport itself is critically important to the economic development, not just of the city but of the town and the surrounding area. This gives us access to corporate Canada and to international business travellers.”

He said the airport also gives the area access to the STARS Air Ambulance service, and to recreational flyers and intermittent travellers.

“We get about 7,670 aircraft a year through this airport,” the mayor said. “The runway was deteriorating to the point where some pilots would refuse to land on it. Now that we are able to get this resurfacing done, we are able to maintain the weights that we are approved for, and to ensure the traffic we need here is going to continue.” 

Bater said the upgrade work is part of a multi-year process. 

Last year, through the CAP program, crews resurfaced half of the asphalt portion of the main runway, covering 27 metres wide by 600 metres long. This year they will resurface the remaining asphalt area that is 700 metres long by 27 metres wide, to complete the centre asphalt portion of the runway, which is a priority.

The remainder of the total 1,600-metre-long runway is cement. 

The main runway was first built in 1958, so that is how far back the original asphalt surface portion dates back to. The mayor said the city also aims to have the two asphalt shoulders of the main runway completed in future years, for an estimated total four-year upgrade project, so it’s essential for the CAP program to continue.

Upgrades critical

The mayor said the city has already done a considerable amount of work in upgrades to the airport over the last 10 years.

“We cannot allow this airport to fall into disrepair. That’s why today was such a great announcement,” Bater said. “We were just happy to first of all see the continuation of the program, and then of course to get to our successful application was good news for us to hear.”    

The Battlefords MLA Herb Cox said the project is significant to the region, and is pleased to see it move along.

“In the type of world we live in, the fast-paced world, whether it is oil and gas exploration, mining, or whatever it is, these companies and corporations need to get from point A to point B fast, and to get things done. So this airport is very important, not only for the city and town, but for the surrounding area,” Cox said. “We have a lot of oil exploration going on in the northwest part of the province, and this airport is very important to enable those corporations to get to and from wherever they are going.”

For 2017-18, 15 airports in the province were approved for the CAP program funding and will receive a total of $700,000.

“Since the inception of the program in 2007-08, our government put in, we have allocated $6.3 million for the program,” Cox said.

 

angela.brown@jpbg.ca

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