CALLAWAY, Md. (Aug. 10, 2016)—St. Mary's County has been awarded a $1,326,093 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to fund ongoing efforts to extend Runway 11/29 at the St. Mary's County Regional Airport (2W6). Runway 11/29 is the airport's only runway.
The public airport helps meet local aviation needs and serves as a base of operation for the Maryland State Police Aviation Division and MedSTAR (Medical Shock Trauma Acute Resuscitation).
This grant will fund three stages of the 1,200 feet runway extension process. The federal funds will allow for the completion of utilities relocation and wetland mitigation (Stage 14), runway design (Stage 15) and designs to relocate the existing parallel taxiway for the runway extension (Stage 16).
The airport, at last calculation, annually generates $49,462,000 in business revenue and pays $1,798,000 in local and state taxes. It provides 346 local jobs with an overall annual compensation to employees of $16,959,000 ($49,014 average salary).