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Republic Airport gets $3.3M more to move taxiway

BY CHAU LAM | chau.lam@newsday.com

July 5, 2008

Republic Airport has received an additional $3.3 million from the federal government to pay for its ongoing project to relocate one of the taxiways at the general aviation facility in East Farmingdale.

The state-owned airport is in the process of moving existing taxiway B, or taxiway Bravo, 100 feet west of its current location in order to create a wider buffer between the taxiway and runway 1-19, director Michael Geiger said.

The repositioning of taxiway Bravo is necessary to accommodate longer wingspans of modern planes so planes on the taxiway don't clip those that take off or land on the runway, officials said.

"This investment will provide improvements so that Republic Airport can continue to work safely and efficiently for Long Island passengers and remain an important piece of New York's transportation infrastructure," said Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who, along with Sen. Charles Schumer, took credit for securing the funding.

The entire project to shift taxiway Bravo, first proposed in 2005, is estimated to cost a total of $14 million, Geiger said.

Last year, Republic received about $8 million for the project, and the first phase of the construction to move the southern half of taxiway Bravo is expected to start this month, Geiger said.

With the $3.3 million Republic just received, work on the second phase of relocating taxiway Bravo is expected to begin at the end of 2008 or the beginning of 2009, Geiger said.

Republic has applied to the federal government for the remainder of the funding.