Forest Lake: Construction starts on airport taxiway expansion

Mary Divine, Pioneer Press
·1 min read

Construction started Monday at the Forest Lake Airport, where crews are extending the airport’s taxiway and building taxilane extensions.

The $721,789 project, scheduled to be completed on Aug. 16, will connect the airport’s south hangar area directly to parallel Taxiway A, said City Administrator Kristina Handt. That will help “ease congestion around the existing singular access point to Taxiway A and Runway 13/31,” she said.

In addition, sewer and water utilities will be extended along Taxilane Bravo for future private hangar connections. All available hangar lots for build at the airport are currently either leased or built upon; the Taxilane Bravo extension project will create up to four lots for future private hangars, she said.

During construction, access to the existing Taxiway A3 between parallel Taxiway A and Runway 31 will be closed.

A grant from the Minnesota Department of Transportation is paying $685,699, or 95 percent, of the project’s costs; the city’s airport fund — money from leases, rents and sales at the airport — is funding the other 5 percent. No city tax dollars are being used to fund the project, she said.

The airport has more than 8,000 operations annually; an operation is considered either a takeoff or landing.

The airport underwent a $3.5 million makeover in 2016 when the runway at the airport was paved and a taxiway was added. Prior to that, the airport had had a grass runway for almost 70 years.

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