"Change under way at Peoria Airport"

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Change under way at Peoria Airport
Officials prepare for new runways, hangars
By DAVE HANEY
The Peoria (IL) Journal Star


PEORIA - Construction is ramping up at Greater Peoria Regional Airport. 

By far the largest of the projects, a $6 million-plus jet taxiway relocation
that will gear into action next month has airport officials handing out
designs of the end result to airlines and pilots. 

"The runway infield will change dramatically this summer. . . . We want
people to know what the airport will look like," John Backer, assistant
director of operations and maintenance at the airport, told the Airport
Authority on Wednesday. 

It is important that the airport keep current designs on file, he said. 

Airport Director Ken Spirito added that one problem identified in a deadly
crash last year in Kentucky was that the airport's charts were never
updated. Forty-nine people were killed Aug. 27 when a Comair regional jet
took off on the wrong runway at the Lexington Blue Grass Airport in
Kentucky. 

Currently, Peoria's three different taxiways meet in one spot. Backer
described the layout as a "six-way intersection with a yield sign at the top
of a hill." He explained that if you are in a plane approaching from one
direction on the taxiway, you cannot see if a plane is approaching from the
opposite direction to get on the runway. 

The project, being paid for through discretionary money from the Federal
Aviation Administration, will add nearly a half-mile of new taxiway and
"apron" - the area near the terminal where planes maneuver onto and off
taxiways. Additionally, a half-mile of existing taxiway will be removed. 

That means construction crews will abound at the airport. 

On top of the pouring and removing of asphalt, four new wind sock towers are
to be installed. Joint work will take place along both the airport's
runways, as well as some underground wiring. 

Nearby, construction of a new "fuel farm," two 25,000-gallon, above-ground
fuel storage tanks, has already begun with preliminary groundwork. The tanks
are being installed near Byerly Aviation's current fuel farm and will be
open to airport tenants. 

Work is continuing at the future home of OSF Saint Francis Medical Center's
fleet of LifeFlight helicopters. The hangar is expected to be completed in
July. 

On the opposite side of the airport, construction will continue on the 182nd
Air Lift Wing detachment's new building, to house its communications unit. 

The airport also has just opened bids on a project to build new hangars and
renovate some current hangars at both Greater Peoria and Mount Hawley
airports.

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