City and county officials are searching for land to build a new airport in Grayson County.
The need for a new airport, the Leitchfield-Grayson County Airport’s runway is only 4,000 feet long (60-feet wide) and cannot accommodate larger corporate jets, was initially recognized when local industry leaders began inquiring about the possibility of a new airport a few years ago, according to Judge-Executive Kevin Henderson.
Currently, when management personnel of local industry travel to Grayson County they land at Elizabethtown Regional Airport/Addington Field which has a 6,000-foot runway.
Until recently, the search for the approximately 300 acres of land needed to build a new airport with a proposed 5,000-foot runway (likely 75-feet wide) with two 1,000-foot runway buffers, was not classified as urgent. But the federal and state government, after completing two major projects, have now moved Grayson County to the top of the list as it pertains to funding for a new airport.
A 5,000-foot runway with two 1,000-foot buffers, according to Henderson, a licensed pilot, would allow practically any plane, including military aircraft, to land in Grayson County.
But, if appropriate land is not secured, the county will be moved to the bottom of the list of priorities for the state and federal government, essentially ruining any chance for the construction of a new airport in the foreseeable future.
“We have an opportunity in the near future to construct a new airport if we can find suitable land, which is turning into somewhat of a task,” Mayor Harold Miller told K105. “We are diligently looking, though. We are now high on the list to move forward (with the project) but if we don’t find a suitable property, we’ll slide backwards on the list.”
Not only is around 300 acres of land needed to build the proposed airport, but the land needs to be as flat as possible to prevent expensive excavating work from being required.
The project is speculated to cost approximately $10 million.
The Leitchfield-Grayson County Airport opened in May 1978.
(Photo: Aerial view of Leitchfield-Grayson Co. Airport)
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
