{"id":23194,"date":"2022-08-21T14:54:24","date_gmt":"2022-08-21T14:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saj.pachecostudios.com?p=23194"},"modified":"2022-08-21T14:56:14","modified_gmt":"2022-08-21T14:56:14","slug":"lake-elmo-airport-debuts-new-runway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/state-news\/minnesota\/lake-elmo-airport-debuts-new-runway\/%20","title":{"rendered":"Lake Elmo Airport Debuts New Runway"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) is celebrating the opening of a new 3,500-foot runway at Lake Elmo Airport<\/a> (21D), one of the latest projects that supports growth in the region\u2019s aviation industry. The new runway is part of a multi-year project to improve airfield infrastructure and provide safer operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new runway opened to air traffic on July 20. Runway\n14-32 is 650 feet longer than the previous runway, which will be converted to a\ntaxiway in the final phase of the project. The MAC joined many neighbors,\ntenants and users of the airport in a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new\nrunway on August 17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis project was driven by our legislative mission to\npromote aviation to its fullest potential at all of our airports while\nminimizing environmental impacts,\u201d said Brian Ryks, CEO of the MAC. \u201cThis new\nrunway will be safer, more efficient and support the investments that\nbusinesses and tenants are also making at Lake Elmo Airport.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MAC\u2019s six general aviation airports are referred to as\n\u201creliever airports\u201d within the Twin Cities metropolitan area because they\nrelieve traffic that would otherwise impact Minneapolis-St. Paul International\nAirport (MSP), the 17th busiest passenger airport in North America. The MAC\u2019s\nreliever airport system generates an estimated $756 million a year for the area\neconomy and supports more than 4,600 jobs. Despite the pandemic, MAC reliever\nairports have seen double digit growth in the number of flights between 2019\nand 2021, with operations surpassing 352,000 last year across the system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Located between St. Paul and the St. Croix River, the Lake\nElmo Airport is a hub for recreational aircraft, business aviation, and flight\ntraining. The airport supports more than 32,000 landings and takeoffs\nannually.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur reliever airports play an important role in the Twin\nCities region, especially as we saw a resurgence in private business travel,\nrecreational flying and flight training during the pandemic,\u201d said Rick King,\nChair of the MAC. \u201cThese infrastructure investments will help us better meet\nthe needs of our strong and growing aviation community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Envisioned as a part of the Lake Elmo Airport\u2019s 2016 long-term plan, construction on the modernization project<\/a> began in 2019. The project also includes realigning an adjacent roadway, upgrading instrument approach technology, installing new lights and signage, and making other airfield safety improvements. The $23.9 million project was funded with more than $17.5 million in federal and state grants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past five years, the MAC has invested more than $50\nmillion to provide a safe, efficient and modern reliever airport system. This\nincludes preserving and enhancing runways, taxiways and taxilanes; adding\nenergy-efficient lighting systems; improving navigation aids, facilities,\nequipment and fueling, and conducting essential long-term planning and\nenvironmental work. The MAC completed a $7 million project at Crystal Airport\nin 2020 for a major runway extension and airfield improvements. Future\ninvestments for airfield modifications and safety improvements have been\nrecommended for Airlake Airport in Lakeville, based on a long-term plan\napproved by the MAC in April 2018.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) is celebrating the opening of a new 3,500-foot runway at Lake Elmo Airport (21D), one of the latest projects that supports growth in the region\u2019s aviation industry. The new runway is part of a multi-year project to improve airfield infrastructure and provide safer operations. The new runway opened to air […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":23198,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-minnesota"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Lake-Elmo-edit.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23194"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23196,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23194\/revisions\/23196"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}