Construction should begin soon on an apron at the Vicksburg-Tallulah Regional Airport in Mound, La., following action taken by the Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen Thursday to accept a $741,808 grant from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The Vicksburg board was the last of four municipal partners who fund the airport — Vicksburg, Warren County, Tallulah and Madison Parish — to sign off on the grant agreement, said VTR manager Randy Woods. The grant requires no matching funds from any of the municipalities, while the aviation division of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development will kick in $39,042.

VTR was notified in June it could receive anywhere from $700,000 to $1 million in FAA funding to strengthen the ramp and apron leading to the airport taxiway. Bids for the work were opened at VTR in late July, and The Mabry Company of Ruston, La., has since been awarded the bid for $671,829.22, said Woods.

A new apron is especially needed in front of a hangar that houses a 73,000-pound Gulfstream III owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The plane has been located at VTR since 2002, and over the years the weight of the plane has worked ruts into asphalt leading to the plane’s hangar.

Woods said the wet weather of late may hold up the project, but hopes it can be completed before winter. 

“With as much rain as we’ve had lately, it wouldn’t be wise to go out there right now and tear it up and pour concrete,” he said. “If we can get a stretch of dry weather though, it won’t take them long to get the concrete and asphalt down.”  

Project engineer Terry Pullin has said the grant requires the project to be completed in 60 working days once it is started.

South Ward Alderman Sid Beauman did not attend Thursday’s meeting and Mayor Paul Winfield and North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield approved the grant agreement.

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Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com