PENN TWP — Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport will expand its runway 700 feet to the west in a $22 million expansion project.

The expansion will extend the runway from 4,801 feet to 5,501 feet, and the exact impact on nearby Monroe Road is unclear.

Ike Kelly, the airport manager, said on Thursday that he has received a $630,000 grant from the state Department of Community and Economic Development Multimodal Transportation Fund. The airport must match 30 percent of the grant.

Kelly stressed that the expansion is not to upgrade from a business class airport to one that allows commercial jetliners.

He said the expansion will allow aviators who use the airport to increase their payload and amount of fuel they can carry.

He expects about a 20 percent increase in airplane traffic after the runway extension, which he hopes will begin with a groundbreaking in 2022 or 2023.

A full story appears in the Butler Eagle.