FAA OKs Sikorsky Runway Safety Area Project

A proposal to construct a runway safety zone that would involve reconstruction of Stratford's Main Street got the thumbs up Wednesday by the Federal Aviation Administration.

"While this decision neither grants federal funding nor constitutes a funding commitment," the report states, "it does fulfill the environmental analysis prerequisites for federal funding and other determinations.

"The proposed project scope has been significantly reduced from the project analyzed in the 1999 environmental review," the report continues. [The full report is attached to this article as a PDF.]

The project would do away with a blast fence that has been involved with three airplane crashes since the mid-1990s, the CT Post reports. The most recent , in which two people were transported to a local hospital.

Airport manager John Ricci told the Post "he plans to submit permit applications for the road reconstruction within a month."

Although the airport is located in Stratford, the city of Bridgeport owns it, and officials from the different sides have opposing opinions on the proposed runway project -- including Stratford Mayor John A. Harkins.

"This plan doesn't address significant health and safety concerns in that area for pedestrian and vehicular traffic," Harkins said in a statement. "It doesn't address long-ignored flooding issues caused by Bridgeport's failure to maintain its drainage system, and it doesn't address the slew of blighted buildings and grounds literally decomposing on the airport property.

"We need a comprehensive solution to all of the airport's problems. This is like putting a piece of duct tape on a screen door."

Stratford Patch will provide updates to this story as they are made available.

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