Rosecrans runway opens after months of construction (copy)
By Chris Fortune
Work on two projects is set to continue this spring at Rosecrans Memorial Airport, but the opening of the main runway paves the way for the return of a spectacle.
After about nine months of construction, a soft opening was held for the runway last week. There are a few cleanup projects for the runway still to be completed, but it is fully operational. Airport Manager Julius Rice said a quick takeoff and landing were conducted once it opened.
“We started having some private or business jets land on the main runway, and they’re much happier to land on the larger, bigger runway, especially with the current weather circumstances than the secondary runway we’ve been using since the summer,” Rice said.
Many large jets require a 5,000-foot runway to land, and the secondary runway length is 4,797 feet. Rice said some were willing to take the risk and fly in while others weren’t, so there was a decrease in larger jets coming in.
But with the 8,061-by-150-foot-wide main runway back open, there is renewed interest in using the airport. Three people reached out about landing at the airport on one day last week, checking for status updates as they knew the runway would soon be open.
“It’s a pretty substantial runway for an airport this size, but it does us well,” Rice said. “And we have a lot to thank with the 139th (Airlift Wing) and the C-130 traffic that we have out here.”
The runway’s opening also means the return of an airshow this fall after canceling the 2023 event while the runway was under construction. The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds will headline airshows on Sept. 14 and 15.
The next project, scheduled to be completed in the fall, is a new terminal that will replace the current one, which opened in 1952.
“Obviously, there’s weather delays and all that stuff in the Midwest in the winter and the spring,” he said. “So we’re keeping our fingers crossed that it’ll be done this calendar year.”
Construction of a new air traffic control tower is set to begin in March. Right now, the terminal and air traffic control tower are one building, but the new project will separate the two.
“It’s definitely been an exciting year already with the project going on,” Rice said. But actually getting completion dates for some of these, like I said, hopefully, we’ll have completed the runway and then also completed the terminal in 2024, and then the tower should be completed hopefully at the end of 2025.”
