Representatives from Granbury Regional Airport are awarded the Most Improved Airport Award by Chairman of the Texas Aviation Advisory Committee Dr. Shelly deZevallos (right) and AVN Division Director Dan Harmon (left).
Granbury Regional Airport, the most improved airport of the year, has been called the “Friendliest Little Airport in Texas.” But until November 2022, the number of guests to receive its hospitality was limited to those who could safely use a runway only thirty-six hundred feet long.
Prior to November, the airport had the shortest runway among similar airports around western Dallas-Fort Worth airspace. With the community’s continuing economic growth, largely fueled by tourism and supported by general aviation, the expansion of the Airport was necessary to keep pace with demands.
Major improvements were necessary, and it was going to require ingenuity, cooperation, and funding. Lengthening the existing runway was not an option. A longer runway was going to have to be a new runway. Taking the new runway project from concept to completion included hurdles such as land acquisition, transmission line relocation, an environmental assessment, updates of the airport layout plan, development of design packages, approach development, and three phases of construction. All required intricate and precise sequencing.
City staff realized a project of this magnitude required a Master Plan update. As a proactive measure, the City used local funds for the update, ensuring that the Master Plan was in place when the new runway was completed. Key local elected leaders and community stakeholders were brought together by City leadership to explain the vision for the project and its positive impact on the region. Support gradually gained altitude and over the years, it continued to climb.
Still, the question of funding a project this size remained. The typical TxDOT Aviation project is funded ninety percent State and ten percent local. A project of this magnitude required significantly more local funding. With a long-term commitment from the community, City leadership began aggressively pursuing construction of a new runway knowing that ultimately the City would be responsible for approximately half of the $32 million in total project costs.
Monumental plans at the Granbury Regional Airport have now become tangible improvements:
• A new 5,200 foot x 75 foot runway,
• Full-length parallel taxiway,
• New 8,000 square yard terminal apron,
• New LED runway edge lighting,
• New Precision Approach Path Indicators on both ends,
• New airfield electrical vault, and
• Conversion of the former runway into a taxiway.