retired version – Okaloosa County Commission awards bid for Crestview road paving

The north 1.8 miles of Fairchild Road, east of Bob Sikes Airport, is dirt. Paving is expected to begin within a month, improving access to Crestview Aerospace, the area's largest private employer.

CRESTVIEW — The Okaloosa County Commission recently voted unanimously to award the construction contract for a Crestview road.

The bid went to Anderson Columbia – the lowest priced responsible bidder – for the paving of 1.82 miles of Fairchild Road, which services several business on the east side of Bob Sikes Airport and connects US Highway 90 to Airport Road,  Commissioner Nathan Boyles says in his latest newsletter. 

The contract price is just shy of $1.7 million dollars. That roughly equates to $1 million a mile to convert from an existing dirt road to a fully engineered two-lane asphalt roadway, Boyles said. 

For perspective, that is more money than will be collected in a full year from the three-cent local option gas tax levied two years ago. That's 1.8 miles down, 200 miles (give or take a few) to go, Boyles said.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: retired version – Okaloosa County Commission awards bid for Crestview road paving