THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 23, 1997 TAG: 9701230310
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By KATRICE FRANKLIN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 52 lines
Suffolk Municipal Airport is expanding - without adding an inch to its runway.
How? By adding 600 feet to one end and removing 600 feet from the other.
Still, it will increase the airport's main landing and take-off points by adding a larger buffer area for larger planes.
The change, necessary to meet Federal Aviation Administration requirements, will make the runway safer, airport officials say.
``City staff has recommended that we extend it on one end and move up the concrete on the other,'' Airport Manager Joseph E. Love said. ``Basically it's just going to move a little.''
Last year, the city, state and federal government funded an environmental study on the airport's main runway.
While the runway is in good shape to handle smaller planes, it's not as safe for larger jets to land.
So for $74,000, Virginia-based consultants Camble & Paris were hired to find ways to make the runway safer.
Those alternatives have been narrowed to one, and City Council will vote on the plan when it meets in February.
The preferred plan is to move the runway forward, so that it won't overlap with Meadow Country Road.
Love said that no date has been set to begin construction, but that all work will be funded by the federal government.
Over the past few years, the small airport on Carolina Road has become increasingly more aggressive in trying to lure business.
The 800-acre airport has added hangars, opened a restaurant, cut its tax rate to $1 per plane, and installed features so planes can land there despite bad weather.
The runway construction will also help the airport attract corporate planes. ``Total access to air transportation today is just as critical as it was to a town's being close to a railroad in the 1800s,'' Love said. ``The city can see the potential of the airport.''