Kids & Family

Flights to Increase Over Elkridge During BWI Runway Revamp

The repaving of one of the airport's runways results in higher concentration of air traffic overhead.

Hearing more airplanes than you used to in Elkridge? 

BWI officials say not to be alarmed. 

The airport has been working on its runways since June and shifted some flights over Elkridge as a result, according to Alan Peljovich, manager for the BWI's runway safety program.

Find out what's happening in Elkridgewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

By 2015, all of BWI’s runways must be up to snuff with the Federal Aviation Administration’s safety standards to remain eligible for federal funding, said Peljovich.

Currently, he said, none of the runways are in compliance.

Find out what's happening in Elkridgewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“From mid-August to October, [BWI] will close one runway,” said Peljovich, in a recent talk with the Greater Elkridge Community Association.

“You will either be getting all of the departures on a given day over you or all of the arrivals over you on a given day,” said Peljovich.

The closure of one runway is necessary for repaving and widening in accordance with federal guidelines, he said.

BWI was awarded a $12 million grant by the U.S. Department of Transportation for this phase of maintenance, according to Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Anne Arundel), who reports this leg of the runway rehabilitation project will cost $40.3 million.

"Renovating the airport’s main arteries—its runways—will create safer working conditions for flight and ground crews as well as passengers,” said Ruppersberger.

In recent years, the airport has and is currently in the midst of a to accommodate its growing volume of passengers and cargo.

The runways haven’t been maintained in such an extensive way since the 1970s, according to officials.

“It has been more than two decades since a major pavement rehabilitation project has been completed on the runway intersection here at BWI Marshall,” said Paul J. Wiedefeld, executive director of BWI, in a press release. “This work will allow the airport to continue serving travelers for many years.”

Since mid-June, the airport has been replacing 1,500 lights along the runway in advance of the resurfacing project, said Peljovich.

Flights have shifted at nights (midnight to 6 a.m.) and on weekends (midnight Saturday to 10 a.m. Sunday) as a result, he said.

If you'd like to file a noise complaint, call BWI's noise hotline at 410-859-7021. Officials ask that you note the date, time and location for reference.


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