HOUNSFIELD, N.Y. — The Watertown International Airport says the new passenger-terminal project has reached an “important construction milestone.”
Crews lifted one of the last steel beams into place during a ceremony held Friday, Dec. 20 at the facility in the town of Hounsfield.
Construction workers were invited to sign the beam that morning at the construction site, and a short ceremony followed a few hours later. It included remarks by Jefferson County Administrator Ryan Piche and William Johnson, chairman of the Jefferson County Board of Legislators. Crews then put the beam in place.
A topping-off ceremony is a “longstanding construction tradition” that celebrates the completion of a building’s structural phase by placing a significant beam into place — the final or tallest beam, per the Jefferson County announcement.
Jefferson County, as the owner and operator of the airport, signed a contract with McFarland-Johnson, Inc. (MJ) of Binghamton to complete planning, engineering design, and construction administration for the new facility. MJ — and its project team including BCA Architects and Engineers of Watertown — have designed the new passenger terminal measuring about 25,000 square feet (more than double the size of the existing terminal) just to the west of the existing building along the nearly completed new airport access road.
Project construction is in the first of two phases. Jefferson County anticipates the second phase to include the construction of a connector between the new building and the existing terminal as well as improvements to the existing terminal to enable the operation of a restaurant.
Several grants from the state and the Federal Aviation Administration are helping to pay for the overall project, along with grant matches provided by Jefferson County. The new passenger terminal is currently scheduled to open to the public in September 2025.