Airport Runway Extension to Open this Fall
By: Elizabeth D'Aurora
Updated: October 26, 2012
The new and improved, longer runway will officially open this fall.
According to the executive director of the airport authority, the runway is ahead of schedule and under budget.
A specific date when the extended runway will be operational has not been announced yet.
Crews are working behind the scenes to make sure everything is operating correctly, including all of the new electrical cabling.
The commercial aircrafts will now be able to run more efficiently, full of passengers and fuel.
The line of sight visibility to the end of the runway and taxi way has been cleared.
However there are still a few items that are in the line of sight of the taxi way which local FAA officials are looking into.
This extension is part one, next summer part two will be complete.
"That's where we mill down the old surface that's 19 years old and put new pavement down," said Chris Rodgers, Airport Authority executive director. "And that means from a pilot perspective we'll have a new runway from one way all the way to another."
Rodgers says that the $83 million project is under budget.
He also added that the extension will be complete two seasons before it was planned to be done.
