Will Save The Airport From Eventual Closure

Voters in Lincoln, Maine apparently really like their airport. In a referendum, they approved spending $227,500 to relocate the main runway at Lincoln Regional Airport (KLRG) to prevent the FAA from eventually shutting the airport down.

The Bangor Daily News reports that the vote was taken Tuesday, and the townwide referendum was approved 393-84. The voter approval authorizes the city to pay five percent of the $4.55 million cost of moving the runway 185 about feet. The Maine Department of Transportation will chip in another five percent, while the FAA will make up the difference ... $4.09 million ... through an AIP grant.

The move has been made necessary because trees have intruded into the approach and departure corridors to the north, according to Lincoln Town Manager Rick Bronson. That corridor takes aircraft over an island on the Penobscot River, where the trees have become a problem. The runway will be shifted to the south, giving an additional margin for safety for arriving and departing aircraft.

If the runway is not moved, the FAA would eventually close the airport, and require the return of several hundred thousand dollars in grants previously awarded to the town for the airport.

The runway move could spur additional development and economic growth near the airport, according to city officials.

KLRG is owned by the city, and serves mostly recreational and small business airplanes. A few dozen local pilots base their aircraft at the airport.

FMI: Source report