Craig Daily Press

Craig — The long and winding road has a visible end.

Officials with the Moffat County Regional Airport have gone through uncertain times recently. Grants to build a new terminal building and repave the parking lot came in about $39,000 less than originally promised.

Then, construction costs for the terminal building came in about $120,000 more than estimated.

After working with the numbers, the Airport Advisory Board received permission from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs to use its $92,673 grant — once slated for the parking lot — entirely for the terminal, but that still left the terminal $20,000 from happening.

Until Wednesday night.

At a meeting between Airport Manager Jerry Hoberg, Advisory Board member Ray Beck — also a Craig City Councilor — and a representative from Armstrong Consultants, which is helping the airport complete renovations, officials learned they actually would have a funding surplus.

The Armstrong representative found $13,000 leftover from a Federal Aviation Administration grant in 2006 for starters, Beck said.

Beck added he and Hoberg were informed the FAA would re-up its grant for the terminal project from $111,240 to the full $150,000 it initially promised.

Now, officials have about $31,000 extra to do business with.

“I think we have some figures now we can make work on the terminal,” Beck said.

However, the airport’s other renovation projects will be delayed a year as the surplus is not enough to cover those, such as the parking lot, demolition of the old terminal building and moving the airport’s automated weather alert system to the new terminal.

The weather system will still function before the move.

Those projects would be delayed to next year, when the Advisory Board could seek additional grants from the state and FAA, Beck said.

The surplus likely won’t be added to reserves, he added.

“It’s not really extra money,” Beck said. “We have every intent of using that money for this terminal.”

First, the money would go toward unexpected costs, Beck said. For one, handicap access was not included in the original specifications and that will cost money to build.

If there is money leftover, Beck said plans are to possibly roll it over for asbestos removal at the old terminal building or moving the airport’s weather alert system.

In any event, Beck said the additional FAA money should come in between the end of July and the end of August, which is in time to take advantage of current construction bids, which expire around September 1.

If the airport had to rebid, there’s a chance construction wouldn’t be able to start before winter.

Collin Smith can be reached at 875-1794 or cesmith@craigdailypress.com