St. John Airport gets new runway

Published 12:00 am Sunday, March 19, 2000

ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / March 19, 2000

RESERVE – The St. John Parish Airport on U.S. Highway 61 just got 1,300feet longer when, Monday afternoon, Parish President Nickie Monica cut the ribbon on the new 1,300-foot taxiway.

The taxiway is a much-needed safety feature for the airport. Before thisthere was only a runway, and a plane that landed had to get off the runway as fast as possible in order for other planes to land or take off. This couldpose a threat of collision with increasing air traffic at the airport.

“This was a safety project,” said Bertram Madere, St. John Parish director ofsafety and also director of the airport. “Now we can get planes off and onthe runway safely without worrying about traffic.”The taxiway cost $385,000 to build.

“The federal government paid for 90 percent,” Madere said, “and the state paid the remaining 10 percent.”Rick Moran, operations manager at the airport, is happy with the taxiway.

“This increases the safety for planes to taxi during landing and take off,” Moran said, “and it will let us accommodate more traffic.”For Moran, this couldn’t happen at a more opportune time. Saturday, the St.John Airport will celebrate its 10th anniversary, and Moran expects a lot of visitors, especially air traffic.

Chapter 971 of the Experimental Aircraft Association will hold a fly-in/car show/military exhibit to celebrate the airport’s birthday.

The public is invited to go out and see all sorts of experimental aircraft, cars and military planes.

“We are getting planes flying in from as far away as Texas,” Moran said.

In addition, the U.S. Coast Guard is flying in one of its rescue helicopters andthere will be tours for the public. There will also be food, drink and live music.Moran said there will be plenty of unique and unusual aircraft landing at the airport, and everyone is invited to the all-day celebration.

Madere added the next project for the airport is to build more hangars for planes, and again, the federal and state governments will pay for the construction.

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