FAA rule change means Hartford can’t go on as planned
By LINDA MCALPINE Daily News
HARTFORD — A proposed expansion and realignment of the concrete runway at Hartford Municipal Airport may not get off the ground after all.
By LINDA MCALPINE Daily News
HARTFORD — A proposed expansion and realignment of the concrete runway at Hartford Municipal Airport may not get off the ground after all.
The project, proposed for inclusion in the city’s 2015 budget with major funding through the Federal Aviation Administration and several years in the planning, may not fly because of a recent FAA rule change. City Administrator Gary Koppelberger broke the news to the Common Council at its Tuesday night meeting.
Koppelberger said the state Bureau of Aeronautics advised the city that the FAA has determined the project may not proceed because of the new FAA regulation would require the elimination or re-routing of Highway U from the “nonintrusion zone” at the west end of the proposed runway.
Of concern is that the runway project be completed in time for the city to take economic advantage of the 2017 U.S. Open Golf Championship at Erin Hills Golf Course. Koppelberger told the Common Council that at this point, there are four options to consider.
One is to drop the expansion project and just reconstruct the existing runway in its present location; the second is to relocate a 2,000-foot portion of Highway U about 500 feet to the west to bypass the “intrusion zone;” third is to work with Washington County to abandon about 2,000 feet of Highway U between the airport hangar area and Arthur Road; or work through elected representatives to get the FAA to make an exception to the rule for the Hartford airport.
The Common Council decided to seek help from elected officials in Madison and Washington in getting an exemption.
Koppelberger said the state Bureau of Aeronautics advised the city that the FAA has determined the project may not proceed because of the new FAA regulation would require the elimination or re-routing of Highway U from the “nonintrusion zone” at the west end of the proposed runway.
Of concern is that the runway project be completed in time for the city to take economic advantage of the 2017 U.S. Open Golf Championship at Erin Hills Golf Course. Koppelberger told the Common Council that at this point, there are four options to consider.
One is to drop the expansion project and just reconstruct the existing runway in its present location; the second is to relocate a 2,000-foot portion of Highway U about 500 feet to the west to bypass the “intrusion zone;” third is to work with Washington County to abandon about 2,000 feet of Highway U between the airport hangar area and Arthur Road; or work through elected representatives to get the FAA to make an exception to the rule for the Hartford airport.
The Common Council decided to seek help from elected officials in Madison and Washington in getting an exemption.
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