After Almost Six Years of Planning, Groundbreaking is Set for $25 Million NCWV Airport Terminal in April
By Jeff Toquinto on March 22, 2023
Most likely starting next week, a process that officially began almost six years ago and has had discussion for decades should see its start.
At Tuesday’s Benedum Airport Authority meeting, North Central West Virginia Airport Director Rick Rock announced a groundbreaking ceremony for the new terminal will be held April 6 at 10:30 a.m. The groundbreaking will kick off a $25 million terminal project.
“We’re excited about that,” Rock said to the Authority, the airport’s governing body.
Bridgeport Mayor and Authority member Andy Lang said earth should begin moving soon and the terminal should begin going up. He anticipates the permit to be filed at any time.
“Once they write the check and they start digging dirt, then it’s a done deal,” said Lang. “It’s a pretty exciting day. This isn’t just good news for Bridgeport. This is good news for the entire region.”
Lang said the permit could be filed as early as today, but should be filed no later than next week, which will make it official. The reason the permit has not yet been filed had to do with a road. Rather, it had to do with naming a road.
On Tuesday, the Authority agreed to name the road leading off of State Route 279 and to the terminal as “Gateway Boulevard.” However, due to the city already having Gateway Avenue, another name will have to be chosen, and it could be done in short order.
“The road has to be named for 911 purposes,” said Lang. “For the contractor to get this building permit it has to have a physical address … for 911 to recognize during construction, and after construction, for emergency services purposes.”
Six years ago this coming October, the Authority appointed a “Special Projects Committee” headlined by Lang and fellow Authority member David Hinkle to work toward making the terminal a reality. Now, the day is at hand.
“It’s approaching six years since we started this project, and the talk of it goes back decades,” said Lang. “The engineers involved in this process, who have done this before, say the process from inception to completion usually takes about 10 years. We’ll have it up and open for use way before that.”
The groundbreaking is open to the public. Rock added that Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) have said
they will be in attendance.
they will be in attendance.
In other business, Rock told the Authority that the TSA Pre-Check registration that was held last week was “an amazing success.” Initially, he said the hope was to get about 250 people registered. Instead, he said there were 660 people that took advantage of it over the course of five days.
Heard from Dr. Brad Gilbert of The Pierpont Community & Technical College in Bridgeport that they will be hosting an aviation maintenance technology open house this Saturday, March 25. The open house is a chance for anyone interested in a possible career in the aviation industry. You will be able to take a tour of the facility, ask questions, speak with advisers, and more.
The event at the National Aerospace Education Center will run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. It will focus on the technology program and careers that await graduates.
While the terminal project saw a bid accepted last year, another project impacting the terminal was formally approved Tuesday. A utility project Connect-Bridgeport told you about that saw Jane Lew-basd Doss Enterprises as the low bidder at $986,355 was formally approved.
There were four bidders on the project, said NCWV Airport Deputy Director Shawn Long. He said the winning bid was within budget of the engineer's estimate of just above $1 million.
More from this meeting in the days ahead.
Editor's Note: Top photo shows Authority member Bridgeport Mayor Andy Lang, while NCWV Airport Director Rick Rock is shown in the second photo. Bottom picture is of Dr. Brad Gilbert of The Pierpont Community & Technical College.
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