The Federal Aviation Administration is funding a $1.6 million Runway Safety Area Improvement Project at Gainesville’s Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport.
The project is to repair the 25-foot buffer on each side of the 150-foot wide, 5,500-foot long 5/23 runway.
The FAA mandates that runways need only be 100 feet wide which has led the excess runway width to become neglected and in disrepair causing safety concerns.
“It’s just a safety issue in case an aircraft was to depart the runway,” said Lee Gilmer Airport Manager Terry Palmer. “They’re already having a bad day but once you go off that drop off, it could cause a much more serious accident.”
There have been many overlays of the 100-foot wide section over the years resulting in a relatively substantial dip along the sides of the runway which haven’t been repaved since World War II.
The project will be 90 percent federally funded ($1.44 million), 5 percent state funded ($80,000) and the city will be responsible for the remaining $80,000.
Before the project begins, the city will have to draw up designs for the project, which will cost around $15,000 in reimbursable funds, and advertise the project for construction companies to bid on.
The majority of the projects expense will come from replacing the 20-year-old runway lights within the buffer.
“(The buffer) is where our runway lights are,” Palmer said. “So this will include getting new runway lights.”
