Airport site touted at hearing

Conway is awfully lucky, said airport engineer Wes Lowder of Little Rock Thursday night at the McGee Center. Few cities have the opportunity to build an airport in an area close enough to town but far removed from the population.

Lowder is president of Mehlburger Engineering, the designers who have worked on Conway's airport project for years.

"We developed a decision matrix listing cost, distance from town, environmental impact and other considerations. Expanding Cantrell Field was one of the options. But this location in Lollie Bottoms proved to be the best for Conway."

ANTHONY REYES PHOTO  

Nathan Havlik, left, and his brother Daniel Havlik, right, talk with Aubrey Adcock, Jr., senior vice president of Huitt-Zollars, a consulting company that helped assess the proposed airport sights, about the current phase one of the airport project. The environmental impact study on the sight was recently released and citizens, including the Havlik's, were able to ask questions at a public meeting on Thursday.

About 100 interested Conway residents and elected officials who attended a public hearing were given the opportunity to speak comments into a tape recorder and look at a series of aerial photographs of the proposed site of the new airport on 175 acres in Lollie Bottoms. The site is 7.5 miles from the Faulkner County Courthouse and 2.5 miles from the intersection of Dave Ward Drive and Lollie Road.

"It's only seven minutes away," said Fletcher Smith, a Conway native who has been a general aviation pilot for 30 years.

"I have a lot of sentimental attachment to the old airport, and I appreciate that many others do, too, but it's a wonder there haven't been more fatalities," Smith said. "If this new airport saves one life, it will be worth it."

Bill Adkisson, also a pilot, said Cantrell Field's runway is inadequate, and "It's time to move on."

Lowder, the engineer, said one estimate was $77 million for expanding the existing airport, Cantrell Field, and redesigning it to meet Federal Aviation Administration requirements. Expansion would require relocating several residents and moving Interstate 40.

The Lollie Bottoms property is owned by Conway Development Corp., which also has optioned nearby acreage for further economic development.

Plans are for the new airport to have a 5,500-foot runway for the first five years, expanding to 6,500 for 10 years and then expanding to 7,000 feet.

As development takes place, "the runway will get longer, hangars will multiply and the parking lots will get bigger," Lowder said.

Following completion of a master plan for the airport, the city will advertise for consulting services to prepare construction plans. It may take a year to get those ready for FAA approval.

Once that occurs, and if the FAA has matching money available, the city will be ready to advertise for bids for construction.

It takes a long time to build an airport, Lowder said. Saline County's airport has been under construction for three years and it is expected to open in about three more years.

Cost of the new airport has been estimated at $10 million-plus. The federal government pays 90 percent of the cost with the state paying 5 percent and the city paying 5 percent, Lowder said.