$19 million in improvement coming to Rhode Island’s airports

WARWICK — The Rhode Island Airport Corporation’s (RIAC) board of directors approved more than $19 million in funding for various improvement projects at its monthly meeting this morning.

The largest allocation — $11,214,439 — will go toward a construction contract with Manafort Brothers, Inc., based in Plainville, Connecticut, to complete the Taxiway C realignment and rehabilitation project at Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport.

Dawn Mineker, the vice president of engineering and architecture for RIAC, noted that the project will consist of 1,200 linear feet of realignment, 1,600 linear feet of rehabilitation, new markings, and drainage.

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The project is expected to begin April 2024 and finish that August.

Nearly $4 million will go toward a construction contract with Smithfield-based DiGregorio Inc. to complete the Southside site work and grading project at T. F. Green. The project includes pavement and site demolition, installation of a new fence, grading and draining, a new screen wall, and landscaping.

Work is expected to be done by next April.

Roughly $2.5 million will be allocated to Cumberland-based J.H. Lynch and Sons to complete terminal apron expansion at Block Island State Airport and $1.5 million toward wildlife fence installation and repair at Westerly State Airport by Woonsocket-based COSCO Fencing & Guardrail. 

All projects are subject to approval by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The board also approved payment of $120,540 toward an assessment to update T.F. Green’s baggage handling system, which was installed at the airport in 2007.

“The system has reached the end of its useful life,” Mineker told the board. “[It] requires a lot of regular maintenance to ensure the system runs smoothly.”

RIAC hopes to have a final report ready by July.