An alarming headline and lead sentence in an otherwise fair Detroit News article today might lead readers to believe that Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW) is likely to experience significant delays this summer due to runway re-construction.
Actually, a $15 million federal "Stimulus" grant to assist DTW in accelerating the reconstruction of Runway 9L-27R means the Airport Authority will complete enough of the project to return the runway to use this year. It was originally a 2-year project. Typically, crosswind runways are used when the area is experiencing strong west-to-east (cross) winds—a weather condition which historically exists less than 2% of the time. Crosswind conditions occur more frequently in the Spring and Fall and are less likely during the Summer construction season.
Furthermore, the new runway will be narrower than the one it is replacing, which still meets FAA standards, but which reduces the amount of time it would need to be closed during snow-removal operations. We are grateful to President Barack Obama, Congressman John Dingell and US Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow for working hard to bring this economic opportunity to the airport and to the Detroit region.
