WHEELING / PROSPECT HEIGHTS -- For now, Palwaukee Municipal Airport commissioners accept that the airport's west side taxiway will be built with a big gap in the middle.

Meeting as a Committee of the Whole on Wednesday, commissioners found no solution to the design dilemma.

The 800- to 1,000-foot southern leg of the taxiway will be built this year as part of the $5.5 million east side taxiway, which broke ground in April.

Airport officials hope to line up about $2.5 million in funding for a 1,200- to 1,500-foot north leg of the west side taxiway within two years. However, north and south cannot meet because a corner of a hangar protrudes into their path, leaving a gap of about 600 feet between the two sections.

Since the Federal Aviation Administration dictates where the taxiway must go, the only alternative would be to relocate or reconfigure the building, something airport manager Fred E. Stewart Jr. said would be too expensive and disruptive to hangar tenants.

"We would like to build that taxiway, but we can't," Stewart said.