Morris Airport’s environmental assessment comes back clean

The Morris Airport’s draft environmental assessment came back clean, enabling the city to move forward with the construction of a crosswind runway once it closes on two properties and finishes negotiating on the purchase of three others.

The city of Morris hosted a public meeting and open house on the project Tuesday morning, during which it showed the plans for the 3,500-foot crosswind runway. The runway will stretch from the current runway that runs parallel to Route 47 to just west of Ashley Road, going west-southwest to east-northeast.

Airport manager Jeff Vogen said this will cause airport usage to go up, since there are times when the north-south runway cannot be used because of the wind.

Vogen said the airport gets used by plenty of people and projects to have 117 users each day. Flights and takeoffs from Morris include farmers dusting crops, general aviation enthusiasts and companies such as Procter & Gamble that have their own corporate jets.

The city of Morris received $11.8 million from Illinois back in December 2021 and worked to improve the environmental assessment with the FAA in an effort to have the project finished by the end of 2025 or the beginning of 2026.

Vogen said the project will cost $13 million to $15 million, with Morris only being responsible for 20% of the total cost. The rest of the project will be covered by the state of Illinois and the federal government.

Morris Mayor Chris Brown told The Morris Herald-News in July that the Morris Airport has a $15.2 million impact on the local economy, according to a previous assessment done by the state.

Vogen said residents can expect that number to rise with the construction of the new crosswind.