The Davenport Municipal Airport is planning a $4.5 million runway reconstruction and lighting-system upgrade, says Steve Goemmel, city of Davenport administrator.

The current runway was last updated in 2009 and no longer meets current Federal Aviation Administration standards, he says.

“Modernizing our infrastructure is a top priority for the airport, and these improvements are significant upgrades in the safety of our infrastructure,” he says.

The city of Davenport owns and operates the airport.

The upgrades involve rebuilding the runway to the west of the existing runway, widening it to 60 feet and extending it about 500 feet, to a total of 3,260 feet of runway. Work is expected to begin this month, and crews will have 120 days to complete the project, he says.

Spokane-based Murphy Brothers, a division of Shamrock Paving Inc., was awarded the runway project and the additional taxi lane, which will provide access to the new runway for displaced commercial users of the former crosswind runway at the airport, while the new runway is under construction.

The crosswind runway has been closed permanently, according to the city website.

Century West Engineering Corp., of Spokane Valley, provided the design and will manage the project.

Additionally, the project includes the installation of a new runway lighting system and a new precision approach path indicator lighting system that will provide pilots with a guide to the correct glidepath. 

That system is designed to sense incoming planes, notes Goemmel. 

The project is being financed through a grant awarded to the city of Davenport from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Improvement Program. 

The city was awarded $3.5 million in May 2019, and an additional $530,600 in June 2020 for runway reconstruction, he says.

“It’s 100% paid for through the FAA,” he says.

This project has been eight years in the making, says Goemmel.

Founded in 1945, the Davenport Municipal Airport is located at the western edge of Davenport, at 200 S. Gunning Road, about 40 miles west of Spokane. Currently, the airport houses just under 20 aircraft and an agricultural spraying business. 

The airport also has about 500,000 square feet available for light industrial and commercial hangar development.