Airport Boost
THE much-discussed proposal to expand the facilities of the Lebanon Regional Airport has received a boost from the College and the Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital in the form of a combined guarantee to match, up to $42,500, the sum contributed by the town of Hanover. The College's decision was reached at the late-January meeting of the Board of Trustees and was largely occasioned by the growing challenge of the obsolescent and rapidly diminishing public transportation now serving the upper Connecticut Valley area. This problem became more serious recently when the president of the Boston and Maine announced that the railroad "would like to" eliminate all passenger service except for commuters within a 25-mile radius of Boston.
It is estimated that a 2,000-foot extension of the West Lebanon runway and other improvements are necessary if modern four-engined aircraft are to be able to take off and land there. This will require an estimated expenditure of $680,000. At present the federal government has promised half of this total and it is hoped that another quarter will be forthcoming from the State. The Lebanon Regional Airport Commission is attempting to raise the remaining $170,000 from Vermont and New Hampshire communities served by the airport, and it is toward this goal that the College and Hospital offer would be credited.
John F. Meek '33, Vice President and Treasurer of the College, stated that "this expansion will be a very substantial step in strengthening the Upper Valley's transportation facilities and it is vitally important not only to Dartmouth College as an educational institution but also to businessmen and residents of the Upper Valley region."
