The Bowman County Airport Authority is considering moving its airport to a different location.
Bob Morland of the Bowman County Airport Authority said the county has been working on a plan for the airport since 2002.
The authority has been working on a proposal for a new airport due to the airport's location and age.
"The idea would be to expand it to be able to accommodate a little bit bigger traffic," Morland. "One of the options we looked at was reconfiguring our old site, but there were too many problems in trying to do that."
The airport being surrounded by other businesses and structures, as well as sitting at angle to the highway and railroad tracks prevented reconfiguring of the current site, Morland said.
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Although he didn't have exact numbers, Morland said the airport is used well.
"We looked as many possible options as we could in this process," he added.
Through the process, four potential locations were discovered; the list was then narrowed down to three.
Three proposed locations for the new airport are areas about one mile south of Bowman, another one mile north of the town and one a few miles east of town along Highway 12.
The proposal includes an expansion of the airport from its current 4,800 feet to around 5,500 feet.
"We've been looking at various options and have kind of a preferred location," Morland said.
Estimated cost for the airport could be anywhere from $8 to $11 million.
Bowman Chamber of Commerce President Josh Lindstrom said as a whole, the chamber hasn't made an opinion yet.
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"The membership really hasn't had a good chance to form a complete opinion," Lindstrom said. "The board just hasn't come across a policy on that yet."
A public meeting was held Thursday night in Bowman regarding the airport to held judge public response and support, Morland said.
"The process has now taken us to this point. If we get positive support and think it will work, hopefully we'll be able to go forward with that," Morland said. "We're asking for public input."
