Cortez Municipal Airport is in the process of renovating its parking lot and runway. (Jeremy Patton/Courtesy photo)
Parking and runway projects have already started
Cortez Municipal Airport is currently undergoing renovations, experiencing an increase in traffic, and planning new developments.
The city began construction on the parking lot project on July 8, airport director Jeremy Patton said.
“We rebuilt and redesigned the parking lot to make it more efficient,” Patton said. “We created a separate pick-up and drop-off lane that is more efficient for people who are being picked up and dropped off.”
Additionally, the main lot and the south pilot access road will be rebuilt to become the pilot access gate. The project includes new asphalt and “optimizing the design to make it more efficient.”
The project is expected to be completed by mid-September.
“The parking lot was very old. The last major renovation was in the early 1990s, so it’s been a makeshift thing for years,” Patton said. “We’re trying to make a fresh start, and then we can operate a more modern parking lot from now on.”
Patton announced that its runway rehabilitation is 95% complete for 2025.
“That’s basically a 4-inch mill and overlay of the entire runway to convert it to grooved asphalt,” Patton said, adding that they will put out a bid for that project in October. Construction is expected to begin in August 2025.
“We are also expanding the south apron by about 370 square meters and at the same time will be tightening the bidding for these contracts. In the fall of 2025, they will basically go into construction back to back,” Patton said.
The entire lighting will be converted from incandescent lamps to LEDs, the “completely outdated” tilt indicator will be replaced and a new operating latch will be installed for all of the electronics.
“Then we’ll put on a nice fresh coat of sealant and repaint our markings,” Patton said.
The work on the runway is intended to reduce the slight slope, but Patton explained that a slope is normal for runways as the topography varies from location to location.
“We’re going to try to fix what we call the roll-off point,” Patton said. “There’s a roll-off point on the runway that’s kind of a hump, and the idea is to try to mitigate some of that.”
Patton said the renovations were necessary to “facilitate our growing operations.” He said air traffic is increasing and many charter jets are using the airport. There is even “great interest” in building hangars at the airport. Two private hangars are scheduled to be built next year.
“Charter jets that are heavier than airlines land and take off here, and they put more stress on our runway. It’s long past its lifespan,” Patton said. “With the apron expansion, we can start building more hangars on the south side of the airport.”
The renovations also include some “previously ignored issues,” such as the airport’s ADA compliance.
“We had a lot of sidewalks that were not ADA compliant, so we are rebuilding the main entrance to the terminal with new sidewalks, new curbs and gutters, and new ADA parking,” Patton said.
They are also changing the airport’s landscaping to a Zeroscape facility that is more adapted to the desert, helps conserve water and requires less maintenance.
Patton emphasized that the current renovation measures serve the future development of the airport.
“All of this work is basically facilitating future development, and we’re already seeing demand increase. We’re seeing traffic increase,” Patton said. “There’s more and more activity in and out of the airport, as well as the commercial traveling public. We’re getting more from Utah, Eastern Utah, Farmington, and we’re actually taking a lot of people from Durango because it’s a cheaper and faster way to get to and from the airport.”
