New taxiway under construction at Lincoln Airport

The Lincoln Airport has become a lot more visible in the last couple weeks, following the removal of the trees and old building east of the aviation facility’s main gate.

“Everybody hated to see the trees go away, but that’s what had to happen,” Jerry Cain, the de facto caretaker and long-time promoter of the Lincoln Airport, said.

The area was cleared and work has been underway to construct a new looped taxiway behind the existing row of hangars, The work is designed to add space for up to 24 new hangars at the airport. Cain said the looped taxiway had been part of the original plan when the airport was reconstructed in 2006, but was never completed.

In 2018, an FAA development assistance grant provided $95,400 to design the new tax way to help with hangar development and in June of this year, Senator’s Steve Daines and Jon Tester both announced $8 million in federal funding for Montana airports, which included $506,000 for runway rehabilitation and taxiway construction at the Lincoln Airport.

Although the runway work is separate from the taxiway construction, Cain said the airport will shut down next week for three days while it is resurfaced.

There are currently a couple spaces for hangars still available on the existing hangar row, Cain said, but those have never been utilized due to the need to bring in fill material to bring the spaces up to the level of the current taxiway. He said the current construction will not only provide the space for new hangars, but should also provide fill material to make those last two spaces viable.

Cain believes the addition of the new taxiway and hangar spaces will be an economic positive for Lincoln that will attract more business and business related activity to Lincoln. He said hangar space can be hard to come by at airports in larger communities like Helena, Missoula and Great Falls, and he expects some airplane owners will look to Lincoln as a place to base their aircraft.

Work on the new taxiway will probably not be completed until next summer, Cain said.