New Runway Precautions Recommended for Boston's Logan International Airport

Officials at Boston's airport are recommending new safety measures to reduce the risk of runway collisions following a series of recent safety lapses, including one in which two planes narrowly avoided a high-speed crash.

The proposed changes include building a taxiway so planes heading to or from gates at Logan International Airport would not cross runways, Federal Aviation Administration and Massachusetts Port Authority officials announced Tuesday.

The recommendations include setting limits on which runways can be used for takeoff and requiring additional training for air traffic controllers. None of the measures have specific timetables.

Long-term plans include making Logan a national test site for airport safety technology, with runway signals to warn pilots of possible collisions. But that and other infrastructure changes could take years to complete, officials said.

Logan had 16 runway incidents in the past year, the most of any major U.S. airport. The worst came on June 9, when two airliners nearly collided on intersecting runways.

The 40-plus recommendations for the FAA to consider come a month after an analysis of the runway incidents by FAA and Logan officials.

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