— By Lacie Nairn, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Drumheller Mail (Photo: Lacie Nairn)

Repairs and upgrades to the paved surfaces at the Drumheller Municipal Airport will be underway beginning in June, and the airport is expecting temporary closures for construction.

Drumheller Town council awarded a bid in the amount of $1,314,442.38 to Border Paving Ltd during a special council meeting on Monday, April 11.

“We are happy to continue to work with the province to improve another infrastructure project here in the Valley,” says Drumheller Mayor Heather Colberg.

This project is being supported through the Strategic Transportation Infrastructure Program – Community Airport Program (STIP-CAP), which was approved in both 2018 and 2021. Through this grant, the Town of Drumheller will be responsible for 25 per cent of the project cost while the province will cover the remaining 75 per cent.

While work is underway, the municipal airport will be closed for a period of about four weeks, though this will be dependent on the weather.

The bid also included nearly $300,000 to complete the replacement of non-functional runway lighting. However, this amount was over $200,000 over the approved project budget of $144,000 and it was recommended to council only the paving portion be awarded at this time.

A previous tender for the runway lighting project also came in significantly above budget, and the Town plans to look into additional grant funding options through the province to help with these costs.