FAA spends $11 million to reduce runway incursions

FAA will provide $11 million in grant funding for eight US airports as part of its Runway Incursion Mitigation (RIM) program. The FAA Airport Improvement Program (AIP) funds will help identify and mitigate runway incursion risk factors at the eight airports. 

FAA announced its RIM program in June, working with airport sponsors to identify airports with particular runway incursion problems.

The money will be used by the airport sponsors to either study ways of reducing the number of runway incursions at their airports, or to fund projects that will specifically address issues such as unclear taxiway markings, lighting or signage, or confusing taxiway layouts.

The allocations include:

• Waco Regional Airport in Texas will receive $6.4 million to realign a taxiway to bring it up to FAA standards;
• Chicago’s Midway International Airport will receive a $600,000 grant to install runway guard lights at a runway and taxiway intersection;
• Philadelphia International Airport will receive a grant of $16,000 for taxiway modifications; and
• Cleveland International Airport will receive $2.3 million to reconfigure several taxiways to eliminate the risk of incursions.

Four airports will receive funding for RIM studies. In Texas, these are Dallas Addison Airport ($43,614), Lone Star Executive Airport ($19,693), and Scholes International Airport ($11,693).

In California, San Jose International Airport will receive $1.5 million.

FAA said these grant awards were “in keeping with … risk-based decision-making principles to proactively address safety risks.”

(Anne Paylor - ATWOnline News)