Today the Guam International Airport Authority sent a formal request to the FAA to release 61,681 square meters (15.24 acres) of Airport property to the Department of Public Works for construction of the first phase of the Tiyan Parkway project that will extend from the former GPD records building to Cars Plus on Route 8.
FAA Airport Division Manager in Honolulu, Ron Simpson, confirmed that FAA has already prepared the 30-day notice that will be published in the Federal Register upon final review of the Airport’s request. The official transfer will happen after the 30-day publication period. In the meantime, in order to expedite the project, Guam Airport and DPW will be signing a temporary construction easement to allow DPW to start construction by April 1st.
15,000 drivers travel through Tiyan daily
The Tiyan Parkway project was scheduled to start years ago, but stood at an impasse for several years, jeopardizing millions of dollars in Federal Highway funds that already had been approved for its construction. Without any solution in sight, the FAA planned to move forward with the closure of Central Avenue by the end of 2013 in order to allow the Airport to use its extended runway. More than 15,000 vehicles traverse Central Avenue daily. “The closure of Central Avenue would have brought gridlock to the already heavily traveled Routes 1 and 8,” said DPW Director Carl Dominguez.
Governor Calvo successfully kept Central Avenue open
Last November, with the closure looming, Governor Eddie Calvo met in Hawaii with Ron Simpson and Mark McClardy, FAA Airports Division Manager for the Western-Pacific Region, and convinced them to keep Central Avenue open until the construction of the Tiyan Parkway is completed in 2015. “The officials at FAA saw how much progress was made on moving the project forward under this administration. Establishing that credibility with them was crucial to our convincing them to keep the road open,” said Governor Calvo. “I would like to acknowledge the efforts of the hard-working people at the Airport, DPW and my office, who broke through the impasse to put an MOU in place with FAA and Federal Highways. Their hard work saved us millions of federal highway money and also ensured that Tiyan would stay open to traffic. It also did a lot to improve our relationship with our federal partners.”
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