KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — McGhee Tyson Airport opened a new 10,000-foot runway on Friday, December 17.
According to McGhee Tyson Airport, Runway 5L-23R has been a result of more than a decade of planning and construction.
"That project has been a decade in the making, about 6 years of design and planning, and 6 years of construction," said Patrick Wilson, the president of Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority.
Engineers put their heads together to come up with a sustainable design concept that would last in the airport for over 50 years. The senior airport engineer on the project, Eric Williamson said it spurred from a necessity.
"The engineering part of this project started 11 years ago in 2010, with a realization that the pavement was reaching the end of its useful life," Williamson said.
However, instead of simply repaving the runway, they designed something new — something better.
Using $133 million worth of funds, these engineers made the new runway an all-weather runway. This means it has the technology necessary for planes to take off and land in rain, snow, fog or sunshine.
Furthermore, they leveled the ground and extended the runway by 1,000 feet, making it 10,000 feet long.
This longer launchpad will allow for heavier planes to take off from the Knoxville airport. It will also allow those plans to remain in the air for longer periods of time.
That extension will ultimately lead to fewer connections out of McGhee Tyson, and more direct commercial flights.
Additionally, the project involved:
- Relocating a city roadway
- Moving more than 1 million cubic yards of earth
- Completely replacing the storm drain system
- Relocating a gas main
- Installing new LED lighting circuits for more than 5,000 airfield lights
- Lengthening the new runway to 10,000 feet
- Installing an ILS system on the outboard runway
Officials said the scope of the runway reconstruction project is unlike any other that has been performed at the airport, making it the largest construction project in the airport’s 84-year history.
Officials said they were able to recycle all of the concrete in the previous runway to use as a filler in the new runway, reducing the project’s environmental impact.
The $133 million project was funded by multiple partners, including the Federal Aviation Administration, the Tennessee Department of Transportation, the Air National Guard Bureau and the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority.
At the grand opening ceremony, all the partners stood back to look at the new, untouched runway. As part of that ribbon cutting, the first plane touched down on the runway.
Engineers, in particular, finally saw their decade-long concept come to fruition.
"I didn't come to terms with that feeling until today when we saw the first planes landed on it. It's really a feeling of accomplishment and appreciation," Williamson said.
