Future Livingston Airport Plans Could Benefit Town’s Economy

The Livingston Municipal Airport is planning for a new parallel taxi way to unlock land for commercial development.

The airport has long term plans for commercial developments along Airport Road, but it can not be accessed. Airport Committee Chairman Jason Duke said while it may be a long process, searching for the roadway’s funding next year is the first step.

“We are already thinking ahead to the parallel taxi way,” Duke said. “An example is where would that be at? What trees would have to be cut? What kind of excavation work would have to be done? What permits would be or what funding? So, we are actually going to go ahead and start planning for the taxi way for the funding.”

Duke said the available property presents major growth options for the town of Livingston. Duke said opening commercial hangars and businesses such as a repair shop could bring in pilots up to 1,000 miles away and create jobs.

“People will think all the time well how does a small town like ours bring in any business that will help our local tax base for our local employment?” Duke said. “An example I would give is I typically fly my airplane 100 miles to a town to a avionic shop in a town the size of Livingston that has a shop that does work on airplanes from up to 500 to 1,000 miles around. They located their because it was a small town with a nice airport that had a good sized available piece of land to build a maintenance facility.”

Parallel taxi ways are roadways beside runways for aircraft movement. Duke said the addition would also reduce runway traffic and increase pilot safety.

Duke said a preliminary estimate has the project being completed in 2024.