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, airport manager, said 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.

The length of an airport's runway determines the maximum payload, or weight, each aircraft is allowed, Kelly said.

“The addition is to meet a need, not create a need,” Kelly said.

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

But Kelly said the airport's neighbors probably won't notice any difference.

“A lot of the jets are quieter than the old propeller airplanes,” Kelly said.

Because the expansion is still in the final design phase, it is not yet known what impact the project will have on Monroe Road.

“There could be a tunnel,” Kelly said. “The final decision is with Penn Township.”

He said while the perception exists that only wealthy business owners and corporate leaders occupy the small jets that take off and land at the airport, the truth is many planes carry technicians, support personnel, engineers and others who are coming to the area to work in a branch office, Kelly said.

Others use the airport as a stopover on a long trip because of the availability of a restaurant and self-serve fueling station there.

“We're so close to Pittsburgh, but it's easier for some of these folks to come into a smaller airport,” Kelly said.

The airport also received another grant for $1.4 million to replace an existing aircraft tie-down ramp.

The state Department of Transportation Aviation Block Grant will pay for the resurfacing of the 5-acre ramp on the north side of the airport.

“We have all the permits and hope to start in April,” Kelly said.

He said the project, which is necessary because the pavement on the tie-down ramp is more than 20 years old, will likely be complete by the end of summer.