The city of Troy expects to award bids for the next phase of its runway extension project at Troy Municipal Airport early next week.

This phase of the project will involve completing the earthwork for the eventual runway extension.

“We’ll be moving in a little over a million yards of dirt,” said city planner Calvin Lott.

“That dirt will come from on site, so we won’t have to haul it in or anything like that.”

The bids will be opened Tuesday, at which time the low bidder will be selected. However, the winning bid must also meet approval from both the state of Alabama and the FAA, as 90 percent of the funding will come from the FAA and 5 percent will come from the state.

The city will only be responsible for 5 percent of the funding.

Lott said he is unsure how many bids the city will receive for the project.

“I don’t know how many bids we will get, but we’ve picked up 13 sets of plans,” Lott said.

Lott also said he hopes this phase, the second phase of the project, will be completed by October.

The actual paving of the new runway will be the next phase to be completed.