ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, August 21, 1996 TAG: 9608210018
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: DUBLIN
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
The New River Valley Airport is getting a bigger and more modern terminal in keeping with its estimated $1.2 million annual economic impact on the region.
"It's going to be a first-class facility," said Paul Shelor of the Dublin-based builder, Shelor Inc. "We hope to have you in operation here in the second half of April."
Some 50 people attended Monday's ceremonial cornerstone-laying for the 4,000-square-foot terminal, already under construction. Stuart C. Gilbert, executive director of the New River Valley Economic Development Alliance, likened the cornerstone to a foundation for economic development and tourism. "It has a tremendous impact for our area," he said of the airport.
According to a yearlong state study on the economic impact of aviation, the airport generated $477,800 last year from aviation-related tenants, including payrolls, and $235,700 from general aviation visitors to the facility. Secondary benefits to the region were estimated at $522,000, for a total of more than $1.2 million.
That income generation is why the Federal Aviation Administration has invested some $2 million in the airport over the past decade, said FAA representative Terry Page. "It's an economic engine. A whole lot of business depends on this airport," he said. "And that runway out there is your highway. you anywhere in the world," he said.
"Believe me, the big businesses and employers don't drive up and down Interstate 81. They come by air," Page said.
"This is the front and the back door of your community, as far as economic development is concerned," said Ken Wiggins, a representative of the state Department of Aviation.
The $800,000 cost of the new terminal is coming mostly from the state, with 10 percent from federal sources. Airport Commission Chairman Nick Glenn said the governing bodies operating the airport - the counties of Pulaski, Montgomery and Giles, city of Radford and towns of Pulaski, Dublin and Christiansburg - did not have to use local money.
Glenn credited Peter Huber, the assistant Pulaski County administrator, with putting together the financial package that brought 100 percent outside funding. "I think it's an example of what happens when you work well together," Huber said.
State Aviation Board member Emmitt Yeary, an Abingdon lawyer, said he was impressed by governing bodies cooperating to run the airport. "It can be a great example for others to follow," he said.
The existing 2,500-square-foot terminal has been used since the airport opened in 1962. The new one, designed by architects Odell Associates and Mills, Oliver and Webb, will include a large lobby and a building that can be enlarged to meet future demands.
The airport also boasts a runway of more than 6,200 feet, instrument landing and weather devices. It has been the culmination of years of work, said Dublin commission member Tom Pullen, who recalled aviation enthusiast Tad Steger accompanying then-Pulaski Town Manager Julian Hirst and then-Mayor C.V. Jackson to Washington, D.C., on the region's first effort to interest the federal government in investing in an airport in the New River Valley.
Steger's widow, Bettye, now a member of Pulaski Town Council, represented the town at the cornerstone ceremony.
Virginia Tech completed a new $1.7 million terminal at its airport earlier this year. University officials are planning an economic analysis on the impact of two airports in the New River Valley. Glenn has said this could lead to cooperative management of these and other airports in nearby localities, such as Galax and Smyth County.
LENGTH: Medium: 70 linesby CNB