(Radio Iowa) – The Algona Municipal Airport’s concrete runway has closed this week for a project to address potential safety issues flagged by the Federal Aviation Administration. An F-A-A Flight Obstruction study identified U-S Highway 18 as an obstruction to planes approaching from the north. Barb Smith, Algona’s Deputy City Administrator, says the south end of the runway is being extended by 240 feet.

“The FAA said we could not have night landings on the concrete runway approaching from the north because it was too close to the highway,” Smith says, “so what we’re doing is we’re displacing that part of the runway and moving it to the south end.” The construction is expected to take four months, but weather could cause delays.  “We’re hoping this is the last stage of this project that’s been going on since, I believe, 2013,” Smith says.

New lighting that helps pilots see the approach path to the concrete runway is being installed. Smith says the Algona airport’s grass runway is still open and can handle all the planes that typically land on the concrete runway. “Some of your jets don’t want to use the grass runway,” Smith says. “They’ll have to divert somewhere else for the time being.”

The Algona Airport is two miles west of the intersection of U.S. Highways 18 and 169 and it can accommodate small and mid-sized jets. According to a 2022 report from the Iowa D-O-T, Algona’s airport has over 25-hundred visitors and generates five MILLION dollars in economic activity each year.