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RUNWAYS  
September 2026      AirportImprovement.com
RDD
Not only did all the project team members stay engaged, 
they also held their bids for a year—even Redding Airport 
Constructors, a joint venture of DeSilva Gates and J.F. Shea, 
both of California. 
As summer approached, the team remained focused on 
moving the project forward while awaiting a decision from the 
FAA on the status of a grant. “We get to the end of spring and 
we still don’t have an answer,” Solsvig recalls.
That’s when he called the now-late U.S. Congressman Doug 
LaMalfa and other local politicians. “They worked [the issue] 
from Washington, D.C., because we needed a large chunk of 
discretionary money as part of this project. Luckily enough, within 
a few weeks, we were able to get that grant in place and give the 
OK to our construction team.”
Planning and Communication
Advanced planning was important on several fronts. First, though 
airlines agreed to suspend operations for a month while crews 
rehabilitated the runway, they needed time to communicate those 
changes to passengers.
The airport also worked to minimize impacts on cargo operators, 
general aviation customers, CAL FIRE and the U.S. Forest Service, 
which has a big tanker base on the airfield. They were all able to 
continue flying in and out of RDD for all but six days during the 
project by using RDD’s 5,067-foot crosswind runway. 
“Scheduling the time of year was important in planning,” Solsvig 
relates. “Finding a time when it’s outside of fire season, knowing 
the importance of that, and when it was a seasonal adjustment for 
commercial traffic, that’s why October was chosen.”
However, the original October start date was moved into 
late-September due to concerns over rain. And once again, the 
airport had to make sure all of its partners were still on board.
Jeffrey Leonard, business unit leader of 
aviation services at Mead & Hunt, notes that 
communication with stakeholders started early 
and continued throughout the project. Leaders 
from all companies involved met daily and 
weekly to update each other on progress and 
challenges before and during construction.
“I think that’s what set us up early for 
success,” Leonard reflects. “At the beginning of the project we 
had a huge meeting, once we knew this project was going to 
get funded, to just talk about partnering, communication and 
transparency. That started extremely early.”
E
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JEFFREY LEONARD

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