MORGANTOWN, W.Va.– The contract for the next phase of the Morgantown Municipal Airport Runway Extension Project has been given the formal green light.
The Morgantown City Council unanimously passed a resolution that approved a contract to be awarded to Tucker County-based company Mountaineer Infrastructure LLC at a total bid of approximately $6.74 million. Morgantown Municipal Airport Director Jonathan Vrabel presented details of the contract in front of the council as part of their regular meeting Tuesday night, which was selected among four other competing bidders.
“It’s the approval of a resolution of contract with Mountaineer Infrastructure, we did bids back in April of this year, and Mountaineer was the lowest bidder,” said Vrabel. “We had a base bid plus alternative bids.”
The contract consists of a base bid of approximately $4.8 million.
According to Vrabel, the work will consist of grading and the placement of approximately 450,000 cubic yards of rock embankment. This work will allow for the design portion of Phase Six of the Morgantown Airport Runway Extension Project to move forward, which will ultimately extend the runway at the airport by 1,001 feet. The project is expected to be completed before the end of 2026.
“They were the lowest bidders of the base bid and all of the alternates added together,” said Vrabel. “We’ve put together this contract for your (council’s) consideration to approve, the contractor is looking to at starting construction in October.”
Vrabel also noted that Phase Five of the Morgantown Airport Runway Extension Project will also signify the halfway point towards completion of the entire project. Originally a five-phase plan, the project is now on track to require up to ten phases due to the federally funded aspects of the project. With the runway extension now on track to be halfway completed in a worst-case scenario, airport officials are ready to see another part of an over-decade-long project move forward.
“Five years ago it was five phases, now we’re looking at somewhere between eight and ten at this point with the way funding has rolled out,” said Vrabel.
The hope for Morgantown Municipal Airport officials is that the fifth phase of the Runway Extension Project will begin by no later than October 2025. According to Vrabel, the contract allows for a near year-long time frame to complete the work with four alternate bids as a part of the project. With plans to start within the next three months, both the Morgantown City Council and airport representatives are ready to make another step towards completing the long-term project.
“For Phase Five it will be about a 348-day construction timeframe,” said Vrabel.