MURPHYSBORO, Ill. (AP) — Officials are pursuing an improvement plan for the Southern Illinois Airport that will include new facilities and businesses as well as reconstruction and realignment and better access to state highways.

Airport Manager Gary Shafer told the (Carbondale) Southern Illinoisan that last week’s announcement of a $4.5 million state investment to develop an emergency and critical response center at the airport was a great step forward.

Another $1.1 million in federal economic development money will help improve roads on the airfield’s southern end.

The development plan by Gruen Gruen Associates of Chicago was presented to the airport board last October.

The emergency response center will be housed in a new 50,000-square-foot hangar between the airport’s public works building and the Illinois National Guard facility. Part of it will be used as a communications and command center for the Jackson County Emergency Management Agency, the Jackson County Ambulance Service and Memorial Hospital of Carbondale.

A third project expected for the airports is a medical marijuana cultivation center. Three unidentified applicants have applied for a license.

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