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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowWork has been completed on an overhaul of a runway at a southern Indiana airport that officials expect will boost traffic.
The $5 million project at the Columbus Municipal Airport included removing 9 inches of a runway's asphalt surface and replacing it with 10 inches of concrete.
Airport Director Brian Payne told The Republic that poor drainage along the runway led to water accumulating in the asphalt. That caused the surface to deteriorate and become a safety hazard. The drainage has been improved and the new runway is fully grooved so that planes are better able to take off and land during bad weather.
The project took three months to complete. The concrete runway is expected to last at least 30 years.
The Columbus Municipal Airport is the fourth busiest towered airport in the state with an expected 42,000 takeoffs or landings in 2015. Indianapolis, Terre Haute and Lafayette have the only towered airports with more air traffic.
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