Paving at Smithville Municipal Airport has resulted in the closure of the facility while an apron expansion and runway resurfacing project is completed.
The bid for repaving and design and construction of new infrastructure for the runway lights at the airport was awarded to Highways Incorporated at a cost of $1,633,738.
A state grant of $1,350,000, with a local match of $150,000, will cover paving costs on the runway. Another grant for $96,300 will cover  the design and construction of the infrastructure for new runway lights. The city's match for that grant was $4,815.
To cover the cost of the apron extension, a grant for up to $190,000, with a five percent local match, was procured.
The grants were made available through the Tennessee Department of Transportation's Aeronautics Division.
Airport Manager Wes Nokes said some of the repairs were sorely needed.
We're having the runway resurfaced and we are expanding the ramp and our parking area at the airport, Nokes said. We're also repairing a spot of existing asphalt that has deteriorated, probably due to an underground spring.
The wiring that supplies the electricity for the runway lights is extremely old, Nokes continued. It was probably put in during the early 1970s.
It's now dilapidated and corroded. This grant will replace all that wiring from the main hangar building out to each end of the runway.
Plans for the airport include a new fuel farm, which will make jet fuel available.
We currently do not sell jet fuel at the airport, so this will be a huge increase in traffic and revenue for us, Nokes noted.
Some of our current customers, businesses, and factories in the area have corporate aircraft, and when they come in they have no way of refueling here. They have to go somewhere else for fuel before they come in or after they leave, so it will be a huge convenience for them and help us on the revenue aspect of it as well, he said.
The city received approval for the fuel farm grant last fall. Costs for the fuel farm project total $330,000, with $297,000 funded by federal money and $16,500 by the state.
The fuel farm requires a $16,500 local match.
In addition to these projects, city aldermen recently approved a request from Nokes to apply for another grant for an  electrical rehab project to replace the facilitys outdated beacon and electrical system.
This will entail replacing and relocating our rotating beacon, which is extremely old, Nokes said. We've put a lot of money in it during the last few years. They have made a lot of technological advances since this one was built, and a new one will greatly reduce all this maintenance that we're having to do right now.
A new electrical vault room will be located out behind the current maintenance hangar, he continued. It will house all of our airfield lighting equipment, everything that powers the runway lights, the rotating beacon, the PAPI (runway) lights.
The runway lights will be replaced with an LED system.
If we replace this with an LED system, it will pay for itself just in electricity savings in one to three years, depending upon how much it is actually used over that period of time. It varies by electrical consumption, Nokes noted.
According to Nokes, he will apply for a  $450,000 at a five percent match. The citys portion will amount to $22,500.