Indiana’s Huntingburg Regional Airport is set to begin a two-year extension project on its lone runway—a project that has been planned for more than a decade. The $12 million project, funded by federal, state, and local grants, will begin this month and includes the reconstruction of 700 feet of 5,000-foot Runway 9/27, along with extending it and its parallel taxiway by 500 feet.
To accomplish this, a Dubois County road at the end of the runway will be lowered, with a tunnel created for the runway extension to pass over it. The first phase of the work also calls for the installation of new LED runway lights and other navigational aids, while a second phase will see the runway widened from 75 to 100 feet. This expansion is intended to spur further growth at the dedicated general aviation facility, which has seen a boom in large-cabin aircraft traffic over the past several years.
“It’s said that general aviation is the largest airline in the United States because more business is flown with private aircraft than any other,” said Curtis Brown, project manager for Woolpert, which has been contracted by the county to provide engineering, design support, and construction management for the work. “GA is often overlooked, but these airports are critical to the economic welfare of state and local businesses across the country.”