Bay City council approves airport layout plan outlining runway shift, widening and long-term buildout

Bay City — The Bay City Council voted to approve an updated Airport Layout Plan (ALP) that keeps the airport's runway length at about 5,107 feet while shifting the runway north, widening it to 100 feet, and increasing pavement strength to accommodate heavier aircraft and disaster-response operations.

Perry, a planner with Centurion Planning and Design, told the council that the ALP “is a series of drawings that show what you have today and what could be the potential in the future.” He outlined short-term, midterm and long-term projects, and said the plan anticipates needs for transportation resiliency and disaster response, including operations by military C-130 aircraft and larger business jets.

The update calls for several near- and mid-term actions: displacing the south threshold about 430 feet to the north while preserving the full runway length; widening the pavement from the standard 75 feet to 100 feet to meet forecasts that include both business jets and occasional C-130 operations; and raising the pavement load capacity (the planner said the existing pavement rating is roughly…