Despite overwhelming public
opposition, Jackson Hole airport officials have decided to push the
high-altitude airport’s runway deeper into Grand Teton National
park.
Airport board members characterized the
decision to add 968 feet of pavement to the 6,300-foot-long runway
as a compromise. “I’m looking at what is doable,” said airport
board member Fred Hibberd. An earlier plan called for an even
longer extension, but Teton County officials, who appointed the
board, threatened to veto requests for federal funding of the
project. The airport is the only one in the country inside a
national park.
The board maintains the expansion
is necessary to comply with new federal regulations and existing
constraints – 11 aircraft have overrun the runway in the last 10
years. The board’s decision comes after a $500,000, five-year study
and calls for radar and a control tower.
Environmentalists remain opposed to any runway
changes, which they say could be the first step toward allowing
larger planes to use the airport. “This airport is really
incompatible with Grand Teton National Park,” says Tom Mangelsen, a
board member for the Jackson Hole Alliance for Responsible
Planning.
At public hearings, the expansion
position received little support from commercial airline pilots and
the Federal Aviation Administration, which will ultimately decide
the issue. Regional FAA director Fred Isaac told the board that the
new tower and altered flight tracks would not make much difference.
And several commercial pilots testified that moving the runway
would not improve their ability to take off or land.
The FAA is evaluating the board’s draft
environmental assessment and is expected to make a decision this
fall. For more information, contact the Jackson Hole Alliance for
Responsible Planning at 307/733-9417 or write the Jackson Hole
Airport Board at Box 159, Jackson, WY 83001.
*
Roger Hayden
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Runaway runway advances at Jackson Hole airport.
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