The Port of Pasco recently named Spokane-based Bouten Construction Co. the general contractor and construction manager for a planned $36 million Tri-Cities Airport expansion, says Ron Foraker, the airport manager.

In that role, Bouten Construction will participate in the project design, provide construction-management services, and act as the lead builder in the project, Foraker says.

The airport plans to add about 45,000 square feet of floor space and renovate its current two-story, 60,000-square-foot building, he says.

Foraker says construction is expected begin next June and be completed by the end of summer 2016.

The project will include construction of a new concourse with a full-service restaurant, five boarding gates, and an additional passenger seating area, Foraker says. It also will include a new ticketing and bag-screening area, as well as an expanded security checkpoint.

An elevator and main stairway will be moved to be closer to a new more open public entrance, and the baggage area will be remodeled to accommodate car-rental agencies, he says.

The airport's administrative offices, which are on the second floor of the terminal building, will remain as they are now, Foraker says.

The project will be the first for the Port of Pasco that will be delivered under the combined general contractor-construction management method, as opposed to the conventional design-bid-build method in which a contractor is hired after a project is designed.

"We're bringing the contractor on the project early on," he says. "Bouten Construction is going to assist the architect with the design and material to use in the building."

Madison, Wis.-based Mead & Hunt Inc., which also has offices in Issaquah, Wash., and Portland, Ore., is the architect on the project.

The Port of Pasco expected to approve an agreement this week for Bouten Construction to provide pre-construction assistance to the architect.

Bouten Construction will solicit subcontractors for the project in the early part of next year, Foraker says.

In a press release about the project, Bill Bouten, president of Bouten Construction, says, "We have proven construction experience remodeling public facilities that must remain open throughout the construction process."

He says, "We look forward to participating with Mead & Hunt and the Port to create a more efficient facility to serve our region."

Bouten Construction, a prominent contractor here, specializes in constructing facilities for commercial, educational, and health care uses.

The company's recent projects in the Tri-Cities include constructing three school projects valued at a total of $27 million for the Kennewick School District.

In a highly visible project here, Bouten Construction is the general contractor on the $58 million, 127,000-square-foot Providence Medical Park-Spokane Valley building.

The Tri-Cities Airport, which is about 135 miles southwest of Spokane, has seen a substantial growth in traffic for a number of years, Foraker says.

Passenger numbers last year totaled 331,000, up 37 percent from 242,000 passengers in 2009.

"We really have the necessity to expand," Foraker says.

He attributes growth in passenger numbers largely to services airlines have added at the airport in recent years, including new direct flights to San Francisco and Minneapolis, and added flights to Seattle, Portland, and Denver.

"The area is growing very strongly with new housing as the overall population growth continues to move forward," he says.

The airport's market area ranges beyond the Tri-Cities, Foraker adds.

"We're located in southeast Washington and collect folks out of northeast Oregon," he says. "We're serving the greater area from The Dalles, and Walla Walla, to Moses Lake."

He says some people come to the Tri-Cities Airport from even greater distances to make direct connections to major western U.S. cities, specifically Las Vegas and Phoenix, through low-fare airline Allegiant Air LLC.