Fitchburg Municipal Airport Runway Construction to be Completed in May

FITCHBURG - Work to lengthen the Fitchburg Municipal Airport runway has resumed and is expected to be finished in May, according to interim Airport Manager Peter E. Kettle.

The existing 4,500-foot runway is being lengthened to 5,001 feet, said Kettle, who is the former chairman of the airport commission.

"Now we will be able to get the small business jets in," he said.

Insurance companies, he noted, require the longer, 5,000-foot runway length.

Depending on the weather, the construction project should be completed by May 10 or May 18, he said.

The runway project will cost $14.3 million. The airport has had two runways, but the lengthening project resulted in the loss of one runway, Kettle said.

Also underway is the construction of a new self-service fuel farm, at a cost of $890,000, Kettle noted.

Construction, he said, started in September and crews worked until the end of November, then shut down for winter and resumed work recently.

The airport received $13.8 million from the Federal Aviation Administration to extend and reconstruct its runway and rehabilitate its taxiway, according to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.

The money was part of $27 million in FAA Airport Improvement Program grants awarded last year to 10 publicly owned airports in the state to support safety, infrastructure and environmental projects.

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