Effingham County Airport Awarded Grants Totaling $5 million

Dec. 2—EFFINGHAM — Effingham County Memorial Airport will get an extended runway and taxiway thanks to two grants totaling $5 million.

The grants were part of a $94 million Rebuild Illinois Airport Capital program announced Wednesday by Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Transportation. A total of 96 projects were selected for funding throughout the state.

"We're delivering $94 million to airports throughout the state, including funding at St. Louis Regional, Central Illinois Regional, Peoria International, Quincy Regional, Rochelle Municipal, and many more aviation sites around the state," Pritzker said in a press release. "Crucially, these dollars are going first and foremost to projects that might not otherwise be eligible for the full federal funding that they need to finish. We want our airports throughout the state to be the best in the nation, and these airport grants are making a real difference. Every community deserves prosperity, safety, resiliency and opportunity — and that's what this program seeks to advance."

Local airport commissioners learned Wednesday that both the $3.5 million runway extension and $1.5 million taxiway extension grants were part of the airport capital improvement program.

County Board Chairman Jim Niemann, who also serves as an airport commissioner, was pleased with the state's decision.

"It's exciting and a very pleasant surprise to get both the runway and taxiway extensions approved. We've been working on the extension for at least seven to eight years and for a long time it seemed like a long shot," Niemann said. " Effingham's location on the railways and highways make it a key location for logistics in business and disaster planning for this region. The runway extension will allow for larger planes to be considered for those efforts as well."

City Administrator Steven W. Miller is also excited about the project, even though the county has sole jurisdiction over the Effingham airport.

"The city is very excited to hear about the continued improvements and expansion of the Effingham County Memorial Airport," Miller said. "Longer runways and additional amenities enhance business and pleasure travel to the community. The airport is an essential component of what makes Effingham continue to thrive."

Effingham Mayor Mike Schutzbach also was excited to hear the news.

"This investment in our airport will enable more air travel for individuals and business and industry resulting in a boost in economic development in the area. The City of Effingham thanks the State of Illinois and the Build Illinois capital program for selecting Effingham County Memorial Airport," he said.

The two grants would cover 90% of the cost for both extensions, with Effingham County being responsible for 10%.

The $3.5 million grant would be used to extend Runway 29 by 900 feet to the east, making the runway 6,000 feet.

In June, Hanson Professional Service engineers, the developers of a long-term Transportation Improvement Proposal (TIP) and Airport Layout Plan (ALP) for the Effingham airport, recommended submitting a secondary grant proposal requesting $1.5 million to extend the taxiway. This would include a short taxiway connection between the proposed extended runway 29 and parallel taxiway.

"The taxiway being included is amazing. It was one of those things you ask for but didn't expect to receive right away," Niemann said.

Aviation Project Engineer Kyle Schweizer, representing Hanson, said during an airport commission meeting held prior to the state releasing the list of grant recipients on Wednesday that once the letter notifying them was issued, the county could start on the project.

The current runway is approximately 5,100 feet long, with a taxiway that falls short of the current end of Runway 29, requiring aircraft wanting to depart from the runway to partially taxi on it, then turn around to take off. The short taxiway raised safety concerns with the current airport manager, Jerry Tate. The taxiway was left short after a previous extension to Runway 29 about 20 years ago.

There is also a county road located east of the new runway extension in the Runway Protection Zone that will need to be relocated.

The extra length of the runway would allow larger planes to land and take off from the airport such as small corporate jets owned by industries such as Flex-N-Gate and future businesses wanting to locate in the Effingham County area.

Airport Superintendent Greg Koester said the next goal is a runway resurfacing project.

Koester said he, Tate and Schweizer plan to inspect the runway Wednesday.

"We're just going to be out there scoping out what work needs to be done, what the work would look like and how much it would cost," Koester said. "We are just trying to anticipate our next project."

Commissioner Phillip Toops asked Koester which runway they would be inspecting. The Effingham County Memorial Airport has two landing strips: Runways 11 and 29 run east/west, and Runways 1 and 19 run north/south.

"The east/west runway primarily," Koester said.

"The project would take care of some of the old concrete pavement you have now," Schweizer said.

Koester said the addition of more T-hangars was put on hold because of high steel prices due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The project is not dead. We will keep pursuing it," Koester said. "Right now if we had to pay the actual cost and try to cash flow this through rent some of the rent would be higher than our larger hangars."

Charles Mills can be reached at [email protected] or by phone at 217-347-7151 ext. 126.

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