The Lewis County Board of Commissioners awarded a bid on Tuesday, May 28, for a project to replace the rotating beacon at the South Lewis County Airport.
The county received four bids for the project with the contract ultimately being awarded to the lowest bidder, Fusion Electrical Services, which operates out of Castle Rock. While the county engineer estimated the work would cost $70,923.60, Fusion electrical services submitted a bid for $57,241.00, which is more than $10,000 less than any of the competitors.
The civilian airport in the south part of the county at Toledo, more fondly known as the Ed Carlson Memorial Field, is feeling the love lately. In addition to this new project, the facility installed a new above-ground fueling station earlier this year to replace its outdated underground tank and fueling system.
The rotating beacon is similar to a small lighthouse, but in this case, one side shines a white light while the other shines a green light. That color combination helps pilots identify it as a civilian airport.
Beacons were first used as a way to guide airmail pilots around the country before the use of GPS for air traffic became the standard. The beacon along with other lights and reflector strips along the airstrip make the landing point more visible to pilots and help especially in stormy weather when clouds can obscure the airport's location.
The rotating beacon at the airport, which was mounted on a small tower, has been out of commission for more than a year, according to Airport Manager Russell Morton, who took on the position earlier this year. Morton said the new beacon will instead be mounted on the roof of the airport administration building since the tower is getting old.
Thanks to GPS technology, an airport can still survive when its beacon isn't operational, but Morton said that even if the airport can function without it, having a beacon is still very important for letting pilots know where they are. One can imagine the disaster that might ensue if there were no beacon and an issue with the GPS simultaneously.
With the contract being awarded, all that's left is to do the work. Morton said the goal is to get the beacon installed by the end of the summer before the rainy season sets in and, with it, lower visibility in the air. He expects work will start by early July at the latest.
