b'RUNWAYSFSM85New Efficiencies purchasing NAVAIDS from the FAA, it consulted with the federal The electrical design team from Garver specified LED runway lightsagency about what to buy, and then the airport purchased it to enhance safety and significantly reduce the airports overall energydirectly from Thales, a mainstay supplier for the FAA. consumption. The new fixtures are designed to consume only 10%After visiting with the LAL staff, and coordinating with the FAA, of the power formerly used by the previous incandescent lights.we realized this approach for the NAVAIDs would better position It is amazing how much coordination isthe airport to meet its budget and schedule goals, Gilbreath needed for a project such as this, states Bartexplains. This resulted in a significant savings, compared to if Gilbreath, senior project manager with Garver.we had bought this equipment directly from the FAA. Besides There were 13 people on our design team,saving the airport a lot of money, it saved several months of time. including electrical engineers, civil engineersIt required a more hands-on approach from the design team, the and other experts in airport construction.airport and the equipment supplier. All parties worked very well Besides the runway itself, we did lighting fortogether to meet this important milestone.Taxiway A and the holding aprons. BART GILBREATH Despite the nontraditional procurement process, FAA will In addition, Garver relocated the thresholdprovide ongoing maintenance for the NAVAIDs. and installed new MALSR equipment at the end of Runway 26. Coordination was required to make sure that all of theNot Done YetNAVAIDs were designed for the specific final runway length, andAfter the runway extension project was finished in September compatible with all related equipment. 2023, normal operations resumed quickly. American Airlines was To help keep the project on schedule and reduce costs, theable to increase passenger loads on its Embraer 175 and CRJ 900 NAVAIDs design team employed a strategy it learned aboutjets; during construction, the carrier had to reduce the number of from Lakeland International Airport (LAL) in Florida. Instead ofpassengers it could load since the runway was shortened to 6,000 feet during this period. AirportImprovement.comMay | June 2025'