CRESTVIEW — The Okaloosa County Board of Commissioners has awarded a construction contract to Anderson Columbia to pave the 1.82-mile dirt section of Fairchild Road.
The project has been a priority for Commissioner Wayne Harris since he was first elected in 2008 as it is an important infrastructure component for Crestview Aerospace, the north county’s largest private employer.
The road serves not only residents, but as much as half the company’s workforce, Harris said, with as many as 500 employees using the road daily.
Commissioner Nathan Boyles said Anderson Columbia’s bid “is just shy of $1.7 million dollars,” which is about $300,000 less than the project’s original projected cost.
The southeast U.S. construction company has a local plant between Crestview and Holt and has done numerous projects in Okaloosa County, including runway and taxiway work at Bob Sikes Airport, and is constructing the State Road 123 flyover across State Road 85 outside Niceville.
Okaloosa County engineer Scott Bitterman said Anderson Columbia can’t start work until construction engineering and inspection—or CEI—planning is done.
“I would think we would get started at the end of May, early June,” Bitterman said. “There’s a lot of prep work that has to be done before we see the asphalt trucks out there.”
Construction is expected to take about a year, Bitterman said.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Fairchild Road paving to begin soon in Crestview