Blowing and drifting snow on Thursday afternoon created such dangerous driving conditions on Airport Road in Waterford Township, the county road commission briefly shut down the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe plowed the drifted snow. We don\u2019t do this very often, but do it occasionally as needed, said Craig Bryson, road commission spokesman, adding that a road grader and a plow truck were used to clear the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe blowing wind is a serious problem there, definitely, and I would encourage people to use one of the other north\/south roads in the area during high-wind periods, such as Williams Lake or Crescent Lake,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The road commission used to install snow fencing along the road next to the airport, he said, but new U.S. Federal Aviation Administration rules now bar that method.<\/p>\n
An estimated 15,000 vehicles use Airport Road between Highland and Hatchery Roads.<\/p>\n
Airport officials took to social media to share details of the FAA rules.<\/p>\n
The area extending 1,000\u2019 from either end of a runway is the Runway Safety Area (RSA) as defined by the FAA. In 2020, the FAA mandated the runway safety area \u2014 1,000 feet from either end of a runway \u2014 must remain object free.<\/p>\n