Work On Chicago Executive Airport (KPWK) Runways Takes Off.

CEA Runway Expansion

Construction was recently finished on the Taxiway Lima project at Chicago Executive Airport.

One taxiway at Chicago Executive Airport (CEA) in Wheeling is nearing completion and construction on another recently received clearance to begin before the year is out.

"The Taxiway Lima project should be completed by the end of September," said Airport Manager Dennis Rouleau. "And we've just received funding to start work on extending Taxiway Echo."

Rouleau said the prior project added approximately 800 ft. to the southern end of Taxiway Lima on the west side of the runway.

A 1,000-ft. extension to Taxiway Echo is scheduled to begin this fall after CEA received $2.5 million in discretionary funding through the Dept. of Transportation.

"We've aggressively pursued contracts," said Rouleau. "And we've received some excellent bids-bids that are 18% below the engineer's estimates for the project."

The taxiway projects are extensions of the airport's ongoing efforts to improve safety, traffic flow and functionality at CEA. This includes the removal of T-hangars at the south end of the airport near Palatine Road where the new Taxiway Lima extension is nearing completion.

"Taxiways are vital to airport safety," said Airport Coordinator Sable Omes-Sombke. "With the extension of Taxiway Lima, we've eliminated the need to cross an active runway thereby taking another step to improve airport safety at Chicago Executive. When we extend Taxiway Echo that will be another step." The airport is equally owned and operated by the Village of Wheeling and City of Prospect Hts.

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