https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2023/07/14/franklin-county-airport-runway-extension-project.html Jul 13, 2023 Franklin County's main airport is embarking on its latest improvement: a $26 million project to extend its existing runway and realign its road to add more hangars for planes. The Triangle North Executive Airport, located at 440 Airport Road in Louisburg, will lengthen its runway by about 600 feet - giving it over 6,000 feet, according to Bo Carson, director of the airport. Per Carson, the runway extension will help further development, as the airport hopes to attract more large corporate jets traveling to Franklin County for business or leisure. The road realignment will allow for more hangars for single-engine aircraft as well as medium hangars that can fit larger airplanes with turbojet engines. Franklin County is riding a wave of growth. Between 2021 and 2022, it was the fastest-growing county in the Greater Triangle in terms of population and the fourth-fastest overall in North Carolina. The county's population grew by by 3.8 percent to nearly 75,000, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Carson said the Triangle North Executive Airport, which is adjacent to the 252-acre, Triangle North Franklin industrial park, serves as a "gateway to Franklin County." "It opens us up to the world," Carson said. The infrastructure projects, which are funded through the state, "will bring about more economic development because it will bring more activities and operations to the airport that can then go to the rest of the county." The airport generates more than $28 million in annual economic output and has created 220 direct and indirect jobs, according to the North Carolina Department of Transportation's "State of Aviation" report from January. Currently, CaptiveAire Systems, a leading manufacturer of commercial kitchen vent hoods, houses an aircraft at an airport hangar and flies it out to construction sites across the country, Carson said. This is the latest improvement project the airport has undertaken. In 2021, the airport received a roughly $12 million grant to do a full airfield pavement rehabilitation and an apron expansion to give more area for planes to park or refuel. The airport isn't the only place in Franklin County receiving infrastructure grants from the state. According to Franklin County spokesman James Hicks, a $55 million project will "widen the existing two-lane road to four lanes and connect the four lanes at Fox Park Road in Louisburg to the newly constructed four lanes at Flat Rock Church Road and Clifton Pond Road in the Royal community" and create more access to the airport.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The scope of work includes runway extension As of October 2, 2019, this project is in the planning stages pending further approvals. A airport master plan is in progress. Although a firm timeline for construction has not been determined, construction is not expected to begin before May 2022.
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