Anchorage Daily News

Plans to build an additional north-south runway at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport will be discussed at a public meeting tonight.

The meeting runs from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Coast International Inn's McKinley Room East.

Four designs are being considered for a new runway. All would require changes to the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, and two of them would require filling in part of Cook Inlet to allow the runway to extend beyond the coastline.

The designs that would extend the runway into the inlet also would eliminate the 191-acre Point Woronzof Park, an undeveloped green space south of the Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility plant. The Heritage Land Bank, the city's real estate arm, gave the land to the city in 1994, and in the same year the Assembly passed an ordinance dedicating the land for permanent park and recreation use. A vote by the public is needed before the airport could take the land.

At tonight's public meeting, airport planners will make a 45-minute presentation at 5:30; the remaining 45 minutes should be available for questions and comments.

Comment forms will be available for those who want to leave written remarks.

The Coast International Inn is at 3450 Aviation Drive.

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