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Airport to get grant for taxiway lights |
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Wednesday, 07 May 2008 |
Saline County Regional Airport will receive a grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, Arkansas’ federal legislators announced Tuesday.
The airport is set to receive $411,240 to install taxiway lighting.
County Judge Lanny Fite said today that taxiway lighting is required to receive the Instrument Landing System through the Federal Aviation Administration.
“We have to have taxiway lighting for our ILS, and that will put us one step closer to getting the ILS, which will allow us to bring corporate jets and larger planes into the airport,” he said. “We’re excited about getting closer to the ILS system.”
Mark Westbrook, airport commission chairman, explained that the ILS “takes the human error” out of the landing process. The instruments will get pilots to the ground in bad weather, for instance, he said. “Otherwise they would have to rely on their site. This will allow them to rely on technology to get them down from the air.”
Fite said he expects the ILS to completed by the first of 2009.
Since opening in spring 2007, Fite said he’s heard favorable comments about the new airport, which is located off Arkansas 183 between Bryant and Bauxite.
It provides a safer landing than the old location between Holland Chapel Baptist Church and the Saline County Fairgrounds off Interstate 30. The church had to take down its steeple and make way for a flashing red light when the old airport was in use. Now that it’s clear of planes, the plan is to install a new steeple, Fite said.
Sen. Blanche Lincoln, a Democrat, said in the announcement, “Our Arkansas airports should be safe and technologically advanced as possible.”
Democrat Sen. Mark Pryor added that the grant distribution is “a good example of how federal dollars can be reinvested into the local community.”
Rep. Vic Snyder, also a Democrat, said, “Air travel is a nice way to come and go in Arkansas and our passengers deserve the security to arrive and depart safely and smoothly.”
Little Rock’s Adams Field airport also received grant money. The airport will receive about $1.8 million to install taxiway centerline lights and in-pavement edge lights to improve nighttime visibility.
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