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Work continues to resurface the primary access road and parking lot at Aberdeen Regional Airport. Aberdeen Insider photo by Scott Waltman.
As work to rebuild the parking lot and primary access road at the Aberdeen Regional Airport continues, airport board members learned the project will cost a tad less than expected.
They approved two payments and one change order — a decrease of $23,809 — for the improvements during their regular meeting on Thursday, Sept. 4 at the airport.
The change order is from Dahme Construction because no primer is needed on the subsurface.
Primer seals the base level and is useful when that surface is going to set for a couple weeks before an asphalt surface is put in place, said Mike Schmidt, an associate with Helms & Associates engineering firm. But the delay will be minimal, he said.
MORE: Aberdeen airport parking lot reconstruction will come with challenges
Dahme is doing the two-phase project, which should be finished by mid-November, Schmidt said.
With the change order, the new cost of the job is $2,345,535.
Krokel
Now, the northeast side of the lot is closed while it’s being revamped. When that’s finished, work will begin on the southwest half of the parking lot. That allows for parking during the renovation.
Rich Krokel, Aberdeen transportation director, said the primary access road from U.S. Highway 12 to the parking lot and terminal should be finished in the next two to two and a half weeks.
For now, visitors must use a temporary gravel access road that runs from County Road 14 near the National Weather Service Office. That’s just east of the airport.
The two bills approved for the parking lot and access road project were:
- $191,649 to Dahme for work completed through Aug. 23.
- And $11,498 to Helms for construction administration and resident engineer fees.
Because there’s so much work that’s finished, in progress or planned at the airport, much of the meeting involved paying bills. One of those projects is for the second phase or reconstructing the general aviation apron. The area is now in use, Krokel said. The payments approved Thursday included:
- $1.32 million to Reede Construction for work done through Aug. 23.
- And $72,974 to Helms for construction administration and resident engineer services.
Reede is the prime contractor on the $4.16 million job.
Payment of an invoice from Helms for $2,055 was also approved. It’s part of the airport’s purchase of a preconditioned air unit. The $1.3 million piece of equipment will keep jets cool in the summer and warm in the winter when they are parked overnight. Krokel said the airport is waiting for a federal grant to be finalized before the transaction is completed.
The board also approved payment of two bills amounting to $2,675 from Helms & Associates for bidding and administration services related to an expansion of the terminal. Work will begin in April and cost $1.37 million.
A 1,650-square-foot addition on the north side of the terminal will allow for the relocation of the PT80 baggage scanner to the baggage handling area. It’s now in the terminal lobby.
Federal grant money is being used to pay for the vast majority of all the projects.
Number of flyers up in August compared to 2024
Krokel told airport board members the number of people flying into and out of Aberdeen was up considerably compared to the same month in 2024.
- Departing passengers: 2,225, up 11.58%
- Arriving passengers: 2,266, up 9.2%
- Total passenger traffic: 4,491, up 10.37%
MORE: Quest Construction gets $1.37M bid for Aberdeen Regional Airport terminal expansion
The load factor, or percentage of filled seats on commercial flights, was 69.1% in August with the year-to-date total at 67.92%
Krokel was asked about the prospect of SkyWest Airlines offering a third flight into and out of Aberdeen at the start of the pheasant hunting season in October.
“I think the extra planes are a thing of the past,” he said, adding that there hasn’t been a third flight to accommodate hunters since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
On behalf of Delta Air Lines, SkyWest provides two flights a day between Aberdeen and the Twin Cities.
