The Angelina County airport runway extension is moving forward. County commissioners voted unanimously this week to add 600 feet to the runway at Angelina County Airport, a project backed by nearly five million dollars in federal money.
The total project cost is listed at $5,140,232. Most of that comes from the federal share, which carries a deadline attached. The county has to break ground by August 2027 or the funding goes away.
A longer runway matters for local business. It widens the range of aircraft that can land in Lufkin, which affects everything from corporate travel to medical transport to the kind of industrial recruiting the county has been chasing for years. For a regional airport, runway length is often the single line item that decides whether a company can fly in directly or has to route through Houston.
Commissioners also heard from the county sheriff about rising inmate health care costs and approved a request to apply for a state grant to help control feral hogs across the county.
Source: KTRE