GEORGETOWN, Del. (AP) - Work on lengthening the longest runway at Sussex County Airport is on pause for the winter.
The effort to extend the runway from 5,000 feet to 5,500 feet started in August. The Federal Aviation Administration has agreed to pay nearly all of the cost of the extension. A possible future extension to 6,000 feet would allow the airport to accommodate planes as large as a Boeing 757.
Airport manager James Hickin tells The News Journal of Wilmingtonthat contractors have cut down trees along the approach to the runway and cleared the path of a new taxiway at the other end.
But he says paving the taxiway requires sustained temperatures of 45 degrees or warmer. He says the base of the taxiway will compact over the winter.
