April 19--The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport board on Thursday cleared the way for development of a multimillion-dollar access road project.
The board, including the commissioners of Luzerne and Lackawanna counties, formally released 16.5 acres of land for the state Department of Transportation to build an access road that will extend from Interstate 81 through the airport property, overpass the Pennsylvania Turnpike and connect to the Grimes Industrial Park in Pittston Township.
"This is a big deal," Lackawanna County Commissioner Corey O'Brien said. "It opens up the west end of the airport for future economic development projects.
Thirteen acres of the land will be used for the access road and the remaining 3.5 acres will be used for reconstruction of the of the airport exit along Interstate 81 in Dupont. The project will combine the Avoca and airport exits into one and move traffic through a series of roundabouts.
Work on the $50 million project is scheduled to start in June and be completed in November 2015, said James May, spokesman for the regional PennDOT district office.
PennDOT will pay the airport $121,000 for the property easement for the 3.5 acres needed for reconstruction the highway interchange, airport director Barry Centini said.
The work will open up about 95 acres of airport property for economic development, O'Brien said.
"This is a great opportunity," he said. "It puts us in a more competitive position than we were in the past."
In other business, passenger enplanements in March totaled 18,048, down 5 percent from the year-earlier period, said Michael Conner, assistant airport director. He cited the losses of a daily Delta Air Lines flight to Detroit and a United Airlines flight to Newark, N.J., for the year-over-year decline.
Airport officials also held a ceremony opening the facility's new south aviation apron. The concrete strip will add 300 feet of taxi lane connecting to the general aviation apron and a main airport taxiway. Airport officials said it will allow for the addition of 60,000 square feet of hangar space.
The $6.4 million expansion was funded mostly by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Copyright 2013 - The Citizens' Voice, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
