PAINE FIELD – Tarmac upgrades at Snohomish County Airport revealed contamination underneath a regularly used plane taxilane that resulted in soils remediation clean-up in August, prompting an extra cost and time to finish the $7.3 million project.
During Taxilane E Reconstruction, approved by the Snohomish County Council, the contractor, KLB Construction LLC, encountered soils that appeared to contain, based on initial investigation, some contamination in an area that was required to be excavated to proceed with the planned tarmac improvements. This required the soil to be removed and contamination experts to assess the testing, which did confirm the soil contained elevated levels of hydrocarbons.
Remediation work followed which required the Snohomish County Council to approve a change order with KLB construction for $690,116.70 but the county is expected to have 95% of that remediation money reimbursable via a federal grant.
Snohomish County Airport spokeswoman, Kristin Banfield, tells the EverettPost.com, “Taxilane E (Echo) is on the airfield side that is used by planes to transit to and from the airport’s two runways. Taxilane Echo provides access to hundreds of aircraft hangars and is essential to the operations at Aviation Technical Services, Boeing, Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum, and other tenants.”
The Taxilane E work scheduled for completion in 2026 was the final section of the multi-phase project that started in 2022 as the Taxilane Echo pavement had reached the end of its useful life, according to Banfield. She says, “It was originally constructed in 1941 for the military and was last repaved in 1989. To reduce long-term maintenance costs, the center section of the Taxilane was converted from asphalt into concrete. Phase 1 was completed in 2022 and the concrete work for Phase 2 was completed in 2025. The work completed in 2026 included rehabilitating Taxiway D2 and Taxiway L at the intersection with Taxiway G intersections. This work was primarily asphalt work, along with airfield lighting and storm drainage. This portion of the project reached substantial completion earlier this month.”
The unexpected discovery of contaminated soil requiring remediation is a contingency for America’s airports since they fall under federal jurisdiction. In this case, 95% of the $690,000 surprise costs incurred by Snohomish County will be covered by a federal Airport Improvement Project grant, leaving the county on the hook for about $35,000.
The current AIP grant program was established by the Airport and Airway Improvement Act of 1982. Since then, the AIP has been amended several times, most recently with the passage of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012. Funds obligated for the AIP are drawn from the Airport and Airway Trust fund, which is supported by user fees, fuel taxes, and other similar revenue sources.
The earlier program, the Federal-Aid Airport Program (FAAP) was authorized by the Federal Airport Act of 1946 and drew its funding from the general fund of the U.S. Treasury.
In 1970, a more comprehensive program was established with the passage of the Airport and Airway Development Act of 1970. This Act provided grants for airport planning under the Planning Grant Program (PGP) and for airport development under the Airport Development Aid Program (ADAP). These programs were funded from a newly established Airport and Airway Trust Fund, into which were deposited revenues from several aviation-user taxes on such items as airline fares, air freight, and aviation fuel. The authority to issue grants under these two programs expired on September 30, 1981, eventually replaced by the 1982 act that exists today.
In other Snohomish County Council action, the Council removed language in the Snohomish County Code related to its county park rangers being “deputized by the county sheriff with a special limited commission as a Washington State peace officer” and “laws of the state of Washington consistent with and limited to their special limited commission from the county sheriff” Those two quoted portions have now been eliminated from the SCC 22.04.040 and 22.04.055.