Durbin Announces $2.5 Million in DOT Funding for Springfield Airport
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL) today announced that the Department of Transportation has awarded a $2,516,560 grant to Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport in Springfield, Illinois. The grant will provide funding for a project to widen a taxiway.
“Widening of this taxiway will put Illinoisans to work immediately on a project that will contribute to the long term ability of the Springfield Airport to serve travelers safely and efficiently,” said Durbin.
"This funding release is certainly welcomed and appreciated as this project will complete a multi-year phased project in the airport's northern quadrant that will ultimately provide safer operating conditions while adding and upgrading critical infrastructure to the airport,” stated Mark Hanna, Executive Director of the Springfield Airport Authority.
This project will widen Taxiway Golf to provide a seventy-five foot wide parallel and connecting taxiway to the airport’s primary runway. This new width will allow larger aircraft to access the north side of the airport and enhance taxi route options for aircraft of all sizes entering and exiting the most utilized runway. To achieve the new width, several specific improvements are necessary including:
• Filling in two grass islands to increase the capacity of the ramp and eliminating areas that aircraft could not previously utilize;
• Adding 17.5 feet of new concrete to both sides of the existing pavement;
• Installing new airfield edge lighting, signage and cabling;
• Updating taxiway pavement marking; and
• Installing a new subsurface drainage system included edge drains.