Airport gets federal cash to expand

Western county facility set to start on longer runway

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Gil Bauserman has been waiting for almost two decades to begin work on a project at Maryland Airport in western Charles County that will enable him to build a longer runway to accommodate larger general aviation aircraft.

Last week, Bauserman received word from the U.S. Department of Transportation that he has been awarded $1.61 million through the Airport Improvement Program to begin construction of a 4,300-foot runway at the facility off Bumpy Oak Road. Currently, the airport has a 3,000-foot runway, he said.

Clearing of the land will begin in mid-June, Bauserman said, adding that he began paving the way for the project in 1993, but environmental issues and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and in New York hampered progress on the project. The airport is still in the Air Defense Identity Zone — a classification given to the airport in February 2003 when the conflict in Iraq heated up, he said. It encompasses airspace within 30 miles of Washington, D.C.

The zone classification will not impact plans to move forward with the expansion of the runway, Bauserman said.

The airport was built by Bauserman's father, Charles Bauserman, and opened in 1945. German prisoners of war cleared the land to make way for the airport's construction, said Bauserman, who owns the airport with John "Jack" Crawford.

"We're hoping that we will have more income from the airport once the project is done," he said. "Once the new runway is in we'll be able to accommodate corporate business jets and that will give us a little bit better income. The length of the runway will offer a better market for other aircraft."

Currently, the airport accommodates helicopters, private planes and some prop jets used by businesses, Bauserman said.

The Sergeant Corp. in Fredericksburg, Va., will be constructing the new runway, Bauserman said.

Once the project is completed, the facility will be the closest airport to Washington, D.C., for larger business aircraft, said U.S. Sens. Barbara A. Mikulski (D) and Benjamin L. Cardin (D) in a press release. The airport is a designated reliever airport for Reagan National Airport.

"I strongly support this federal investment because it will substantially improve and upgrade Maryland Airport and result in greater business opportunities for the whole region," Cardin said in the release. "The airport is a strong economic engine for all of Southern Maryland and it's important that we give Charles County the resources that are needed for future economic development and growth."

"Maryland Airport is a transportation and economic development priority for Southern Maryland and it's one of my priorities, too," Mikulski said in a press release. "The airport is critical to the economy of Southern Maryland and to Marylanders who use it to stay connected to jobs and family. I will continue to fight to improve the safe operation of Maryland Airport."

Charles County commissioners' President F. Wayne Cooper (D) said the project has been a long time coming.

"I'm extremely pleased to see it finally happening," he said. "This project falls right in line with the county's economic development package and our plans to build an energetics and technology park over there. … It should attract businesses to our county."

Bauserman said that the money allocated last week will enable him to begin the first phase of the project.

"June 15 is the magical date when the Maryland Department of the Environment will let us begin cutting down the trees," he said, laughing.

The total cost of the project was estimated in 1999 as $11 million, but in the ensuing years the price tag has jumped to between $29 million and $39 million, Bauserman said.

It is hoped that the project will be completed by 2011 — just in time for the completion of the first building at the new tech park, Cooper said.

"It seems that we've been waiting forever for this to happen," he said.

"Charles County is investing a lot of money in the business park that is adjacent to the airport," Bauserman said. "This is a joint venture. These businesses are going to need an airport close to where they operate."

nmcconaty@somdnews.com