b'48 8GK GENERAL AVIATION Airfield is Open at New General Aviation Airport in Kentucky BY MICHELLE GARDNERA mile of road will take youits conceptual start a mile, but a mile of runwayback in 1998. Paslick will take you anywhere, sumsexplains that the up the conception and construction ofKentucky Division FACTS&FIGURESGallatin County Regional Airport (8GK) inof Aeronautics (later Project: New General Aviation Airfieldnortheastern Kentucky. When officials cutrenamed the Kentucky Name: Gallatin County Regional Airport the ribbon on its runway last summer, theDepartment of Location: Gallatin County, KY states 58th general aviation airport wasAviation) wanted anMARK PASLICKofficially open for business, even thoughairport to fill a service Managed by: Gallatin County Airport Board the terminal and other key facilities are stillgap near Interstate 71 to serve industry Footprint: About 650 acres in the works.along the Ohio River, including steel Cost: $44 million With a population of less than 8,800plants such as North American Stainless Current Infrastructure: 5,000-ft. x 75-ft. concreteand only 101 square miles of land, Gallatinand Nucor Steel, as well as other large runway; 35-ft. wide full-length parallel taxiway; County, KY, may seem like an unlikelycorporations like Dow Chemical. Eventually, 500-ft. x 350-ft. aircraft apron candidate for a completely new airport.8GK was developed as a potential reliever Project Timeline: Early planning started in 2008 &But its situated in the Golden Triangleairport for corporate aircraft operating accelerated as land purchases began around 2007; airfieldbetween Cincinnati, OH; Louisville, KY;out of Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky construction started in 2020; runway opened in June 2023;and Lexington, KY. It had also been on theInternational Airport (CVG) and Louisville terminal building, fuel farm & hangars currently in variousInternational Airport (SDF). stages of developmentradar of federal and state aviation agencies Airport Planner & Engineer: Goodwyn Mills Cawood for nearly three decades as a goodJohn Spike Wright Airfield Excavation & Grading Subcontractor:location to add a much-needed airfield forhas been involved Bizzack Construction LLC corporate and other general aviation traffic.with the 8GK project Paving Subcontractor: The Harper Company Goodwyn Mills Cawood is the airportsince 2003first planner and engineering consultant thatas Gallatin County Notable Features: Only general aviation airport in Attorney, and now KY with direct access to I-71; fills previous air service helped make that idea a reality, and Mark gap in business & industrial corridor between CincinnatiPaslick, now the firms aviation manager,as a member of the & Louisvillehas been working on the project fromAirport Board. Once itJOHN SPIKE WRIGHTOctober 2024AirportImprovement.com'