The Oak Ridge City Council will consider accepting grants for the proposed Oak Ridge Airport on Tuesday.
The airport would be built along Highway 58 on the south side of the Heritage Center, the former K-25 site.
Council will meet online to consider accepting the airport grants in a special session at 6 p.m. Tuesday, January 19. You can watch the meeting here.
[Read more…]Cirrus Aircraft and Coquí Radio Pharmaceuticals could both use the proposed Oak Ridge Airport, a project consultant said Tuesday.
Oak Ridge Today has previously reported that Coquí Radio Pharmaceuticals Corporation could use the airport, which would have a 5,000-foot runway and be located at Heritage Center, the former K-25 site. Coquí has announced plans to build a $500 million medical isotope production facility at Heritage Center.
The company makes medical isotopes with a half-life of 62 hours, airport project consultant Billy Stair said at an Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce breakfast on Tuesday. Using the Oak Ridge Airport, rather than spending 42 minutes driving to McGhee Tyson Airport in Blount County, would save Coquí about $2.3 million per year, Stair said. It would also avoid the loss of about 1,000 doses per day of isotopes used for medical treatments, Stair said.
The Federal Aviation Administration conditionally approved the Oak Ridge Airport in March. That was a very significant step after four years of work, Stair said. The master plan has been approved; the precise location of the runway has been set; and a model of likely traffic has been developed.
As part of the conditional approval, the FAA wants an environmental assessment and a benefit-cost analysis.
[Read more…]The Federal Aviation Administration provided a conditional approval for the proposed Oak Ridge Airport in a February letter, a consultant said Thursday.
The conditions included in the February 22 letter included the completion of a benefit cost analysis and an environmental assessment for the airport property, project consultant Billy Stair said.
In response to the conditional approval, the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority’s board of directors approved a work authorization for CHA Consulting Inc. during a June 19 meeting. CHA Consulting, which has an office in Louisville, will provide professional services for “qualifications development and agency scoping” for the design, environmental assessment, and benefit cost analysis for the proposed airport.
“This puts in motion the process for undertaking the BCA (benefit cost analysis) and EA (environmental assessment),” Stair said.
[Read more…]
ALCOA—If it is identified as a next step, the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority is prepared to provide data and a report to the Federal Aviation Administration about aircraft approach and departure paths at the proposed Oak Ridge Airport.
The MKAA approved an award worth up to $48,000 for the project during a committee meeting and board meeting at McGhee Tyson Airport in Alcoa on Wednesday.
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A May 2018 draft of the airport layout drawing for the proposed Oak Ridge Airport at East Tennessee Technology Park along State Route 58 in west Oak Ridge. (Image courtesy Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority/Michael Baker International)
A layout plan has been submitted for the proposed Oak Ridge Airport, and now officials are waiting for a response from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The response could arrive any day, according Bill Barley, vice president of CHA Consulting, which has an office in Louisville. Barley and Mike Reiter of Michael Baker International, an architectural firm, gave an update about the Oak Ridge Airport project during a meeting of the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority Board of Commissioners at McGhee Tyson Aiport in Alcoa on Wednesday.
The letter from the FAA could be a conditional approval, which is standard, Barley said.
If approved and funded, the airport would have a 5,000-foot runway, and it would be built on the south side of the East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge. It would be near Highway 58, on 170 acres of land that have been declared excess by the U.S. Department of Energy. The runway could run roughly parallel to the highway.
Here are a few images from the draft airport master plan in May for the proposed Oak Ridge Airport, courtesy of Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority and Michael Baker International. [Read more…]
MCGHEE TYSON AIRPORT—A layout plan has been submitted for the proposed Oak Ridge Airport, and now officials are waiting for a response from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The response could arrive any day, said Bill Barley, vice president of CHA Consulting, which has an office in Louisville. Barley and Mike Reiter of Michael Baker International, an architectural firm, gave an update about the Oak Ridge Airport project during a meeting of the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority Board of Commissioners at McGhee Tyson Aiport in Alcoa on Wednesday.
The letter from the FAA could be a conditional approval, which is standard, Barley said.
If approved and funded, the airport would have a 5,000-foot runway, and it would be built on the south side of the East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge. It would be near Highway 58, on 170 acres of land that have been declared excess by the U.S. Department of Energy. The runway could run roughly parallel to the highway.
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Oak Ridge, TN 37831
Note: Most news stories on Oak Ridge Today are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our advertisers, sponsors, and subscribers. Some are considered premium content. This story is premium content. Premium content can include in-depth, investigative, and exclusive stories.
A revised layout plan for the Oak Ridge Airport at Heritage Center from a presentation to Oak Ridge City Council by project consultant Billy Stair on Feb. 20, 2018. (Image courtesy Billy Stair)
Officials working on the proposed Oak Ridge Airport could receive comments this week from the Federal Aviation Administration about a revised layout plan, a project consultant said Thursday.
Officials are finalizing an airport runway plan. If it is approved, that would be a very positive step, project consultant Billy Stair said.
In February, Stair said the FAA wanted project officials, who are proposing to build what is known as a Class B airport, to plan for a future expansion to a Class C airport—sometime around 2040.
“To plan for such a future expansion, we need to widen the runway and taxiway at the initial construction,” Stair said in February. “We do not need to lengthen the proposed 5,000-foot runway. The new runway alignment avoids encroachment by Highway 58.” [Read more…]
Image from a Billy Stair presentation on the Oak Ridge Airport project to Roane County officials at the Roane County Courthouse in Kingston on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017.
The Oak Ridge City Council will hear updates on three projects during a special meeting on Tuesday: the proposed Oak Ridge General Aviation Airport, the planned Oak Ridge Preschool, and the planned Oak Ridge Senior Center.
The special meeting is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. Tuesday, February 20, in the Multipurpose Room at the Central Services Complex on Woodbury Lane.
The presentation and status report on the proposed airport is scheduled to be given by aviation consultant Billy Stair and Bill Marrison, president of the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority. Stair and Marrison gave a status report to Roane County officials in December. The Oak Ridge Airport would be built at Heritage Center, the former K-25 site, which is in the Roane County portion of Oak Ridge.
The airport presentation in Oak Ridge was initially scheduled for January, but it was rescheduled to Tuesday because of winter weather last month. [Read more…]
Image from a Billy Stair presentation on the Oak Ridge Airport project to Roane County officials at the Roane County Courthouse in Kingston on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017.
A presentation that will provide information about the status of the Oak Ridge General Aviation Airport project has been scheduled for Tuesday evening.
The presentation is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Tuesday, January 16, in the Robertsville Middle School Library. It’s part of a joint work session between the Oak Ridge City Council and Oak Ridge Board of Education that will begin at 6 p.m.
The airport presentation will be given by Billy Stair, aviation consultant, and Bill Marrison, president of the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority. In December, Stair gave a presentation about the airport to Roane County officials.
After that meeting, Oak Ridge Today reported that Tennessee officials have appropriated $15 million that could be used for the proposed airport at Heritage Center, the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge. The appropriation, which is pending approval of the Oak Ridge Airport by the Federal Aviation Administration, would be enough to cover about 33 percent to 38 percent of the current estimated project cost of $40 million to $45 million. [Read more…]
Image from a Billy Stair presentation on the Oak Ridge Airport project to Roane County officials at the Roane County Courthouse in Kingston on Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017.
KINGSTON—Tennessee officials have appropriated $15 million that could be used for the proposed airport at Heritage Center, the former K-25 site in west Oak Ridge.
The appropriation, which is pending approval of the Oak Ridge Airport by the Federal Aviation Administration, would be enough to cover about 33 percent to 38 percent of the current estimated project cost of $40 million to $45 million.
The appropriation was announced by Tennessee Department of Transportation Commissioner John C. Schroer in a November 8 letter to members of the Tennessee General Assembly. Oak Ridge Today received a copy of the letter on Monday.
The $15 million that could be used for the Oak Ridge Airport is one half of a $30 million appropriation approved by the Tennessee General Assembly for the Aeronautics Economic Development Fund earlier this year, said Billy Stair, a former communications director at Oak Ridge National Laboratory who is now a consultant helping with the airport project. That half was to support the construction of new general aviation airports like the project in Oak Ridge, and Oak Ridge received all of the $15 million for general aviation airports, Stair said.
“MKAA (Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority) is the only public entity in the state with planning documents for a new airport currently under review,” Schroer said in his November letter to legislators. The $15 million will be allocated to the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority, which would own and operate the Oak Ridge Airport, pending FAA approval. [Read more…]
Image via Billy Stair presentation at Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority General Aviation Committee meeting on Wednesday, March 15, 2017.
The Roane County Commission will discuss the Oak Ridge Airport, which would be built at Heritage Center, the former K-25 site, during a workshop next week.
The workshop is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, December 7, in the Qualls Commission Room at the Roane County Courthouse.
Oak Ridge Today reported in March that there are additional steps and approvals required, but if all goes well, construction on the airport could start in late 2018 or early 2019.
The airport could still cost an estimated $35 million to $40 million, officials said at the time. It would be funded with a mix of federal funding, state aeronautical commission funding, and local funding from the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority, or MKAA.
The MKAA General Aviation Committee approved an airport layout plan during a meeting at McGhee Tyson Airport in Alcoa in March. The plan was going to be sent to the Federal Aviation Administration for review and approval after that meeting. The airport layout plan is a detailed document that includes runway lengths, approaches, runway ramps, and taxiways. [Read more…]
U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, center, a Tennessee Republican, is pictured above with Energy Secretary Rick Perry, left, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility in Hardin Valley on Monday, May 22, 2017. Also pictured is former ORNL Director Thom Mason. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
An appropriations bill approved by a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday rejects the Trump administration’s proposal to cut $919 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science in the fiscal year that starts October 1.
Instead of cutting, the Senate bill would actually increase funding for the Office of Science, boosting it to $5.55 billion in fiscal year 2018. That would be again a record funding level in a regular appropriations bill, according to U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican who often advocates for the federal sites in Oak Ridge and chairs the Senate subcommittee.
Like the Senate this week, the House Appropriations Committee last week also rejected President Donald Trump’s request to cut DOE’s Office of Science.
Unlike the Senate bill, though, the House bill would keep funding flat at $5.39 billion, the same as in the current fiscal year. That level of funding was also a record in a regular appropriations bill, Alexander said in May.
The Office of Science is the nation’s largest supporter of research in the physical sciences.
The president’s budget request, submitted to Congress on May 23, would cut Office of Science funding by about 17 percent, dropping it to $4.47 billion.
Keeping Office of Science funding flat, or even increasing it, could be important to several of the federal sites in Oak Ridge. Oak Ridge National Laboratory is an Office of Science lab, and the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, or OSTI, is an Office of Science unit. [Read more…]
