February 5, 2021

Best in State: Gold award — Future Value to the Engineering Profession
Century West Engineering

Photo courtesy of ACEC

Located at the Grant County International Airport, Runway 14L-32R provides facilities for Boeing test flights in uncongested airspace.

Project: Grant County International Airport — Runway 14L-32R line-of-sight improvements
Client: Port of Moses Lake

Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake seems a long way from Puget Sound. Still, it plays a vital role in relieving congestion from the overcrowded skies of western Washington.

Airspace in Puget Sound is highly congested due to the significant number of airports supporting commercial flights, commercial aircraft manufacturing flights and military flights at Boeing Field, Seattle-Tacoma International, Renton Municipal, Paine Field, Bellingham and Joint Base Lewis McChord airports. This congested airspace causes delays on the ground taxiing and inefficient flight paths that burn greater amounts of fuel and impact the environment.

The airport and Runway 14L-32R provide facilities for many Boeing test flights in uncongested airspace, relieving pressure on the Puget Sound area. Runway 14L-32R line-of-sight improvements allow operations on the runway to occur around the clock, further reducing congestion across the region.

At 13,503 feet long and 200 feet wide, Runway 14L-32R is one of the United States’ largest runways. Though the airport, which is managed by the Port of Moses Lake, also operates four other runways, Runway 14L-32R is critical to aviation operations. It is necessary for general aviation activities, narrow and wide-body aircraft flight tests, wide-body cargo shipping, pilot training, military operations and everything in between.

The new runway, completed on an aggressive design and construction schedule, provides much-improved sight distance, upgraded edge lighting with LED fixtures, and signage, which increases runway safety while reducing energy consumption and required maintenance.

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