The head of the Federal Aviation Administration was in Boston Wednesday to highlight two runway safety initiatives at Logan Airport.
Acting FAA administrator Michael Huerta announced a $10 million grant to complete a buffer zone at the end of the airport’s longest runway intended to stop airplanes that overshoot it. The grant marks the final phase of a two-year $65 million project to construct the buffer, a 470-foot-long concrete pier, topped with a bed of lightweight concrete blocks engineered to crush under the weight of an aircraft to slow it.
The pier would extend into Boston Harbor. The Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs Logan, expects work to be finished in November.
Huerta also discussed satellite-based technology being tested at Logan to track aircraft, fuel trucks, snowplows, and other vehicles on the airport surface. Vehicles equipped with transponders will transmit their identification and location to pilots, aircraft controllers, and drivers, allowing them to see all the traffic on and around the runways at night or during a snowstorm.