Yoakum airport undergoes renovations

The Yoakum Municipal Airport is undergoing some renovations.

“The Texas Department of Transportation does an annual evaluation of airports,” Mayor Carl O’ Neill said. “The evaluation last year showed that we need to do some repair work out there. There will be rehabilitations. We will crack seal the total runway and the turnaround. We will seal coat them and put a two-inch overlay on top of that.”

All the cracks on the runway pavement that are larger than 3/8 of an inch will be cleaned of debris and old crack sealer. Herbicide will be applied and then sealed in accordance with TXDOT specifications. The crack sealer material will be rubber-asphalt crack sealing compound or Hot Poured Rubber.

Based on TXDOT’s observations, the runway pavement needs a single-course surface treatment. This will involve applying bituminous asphalt, followed by Grade 5 cover stone to seal any remaining cracks smaller than 3/8 of an inch in width. The rehabilitated pavement will then be marked and striped.

Where the hangars are, the City will fix the drainage issues there as well.

“They will taper it where it’ll completely drain off,” O’ Neill said.

The city will also restripe the entire runway. Runway surface markings will include runway threshold markings, runway designator markings (or runway numbers) on each end, aiming markings, and a 120 foot by 19-inch wide centerline stripe. These markings will be white and will be applied in two coats in each direction. Yellow taxiway lead-in stripes will be painted in one coat at the intermediate intersecting taxiway. Glass beads will be applied to the white and yellow surface markings to enhance the visibility of the markings when operating at night or during the low-visibility conditions when the pavement surface is wet.

The budget for these improvements is around $2.5 million. The city, however, is anticipating the bids to be about $2.3 million.

“When they finish the overlay, it will look really nice,” O’ Neill said. “When they do the striping, they’ll stripe in both directions.”

O’ Neill said this will benefit the city.

“There’s a lot of cracks out there on the runway and taxiway,” O’ Neill said. “It will look very nice when it is done.”