Northern Rockies Regional Airport gets over $17 million from Transport Canada

FORT NELSON, B.C. – A federal contribution under the Airports Capital Assistance Program has fully funded the runway rehabilitation project in Fort Nelson at $17.7 million.

A request was submitted to Transport Canada in 2018 by the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality, stating the runway 04-22 rehab project would not be able to go ahead without funding.

“Renewing our civil infrastructure, and in particular, airport infrastructure, given its history and significance to the local economy is a high priority for Regional Council,” says Mayor Gary Foster. “Over the years, the ACAP program has been instrumental in providing for that renewal as well as relieving taxpayers of major cost impacts, and we are very fortunate to have been given the opportunities to take advantage of those funding programs.”

Initially built in 1941, the Northern Rockies Regional Airport belonged to the US Government as part of its USAAF Northwest Staging Route. After the end of World War Two, ownership was transferred to the Royal Canadian Air Force, who then gave it to Transport Canada.

In the 1990s, the National Airports Policy took effect, and the airport was once again transferred to the Town of Fort Nelson, which was later incorporated to form the province’s first Regional Municipality in 2009.

The runway rehab project will include removing and replacing sub-drains and storm pipes, relocation of edge, threshold and precision approach path lights, and hot-in-place recycling and overlay. The project was awarded to IDL Projects Inc.