ABC News exclusive: FAA giving airports more than $100M to help prevent runway incursions

More than $100m will go to airports across the country to reduce potential runway incursions, the Federal Aviation Administration told ABC News exclusively. The funding, announced Monday, will be allocated to 12 airports in the wake of a series of close calls involving passenger planes earlier this year. Runway incursions occur when an aircraft, vehicle or person is incorrectly on the protected areas at an airport designated for takeoff. This round of grant money from the agency -- as part of its annual distributions -- will fund projects that will reconfigure taxiways that cause confusion, install better airfield lighting and construct new taxiways to provide more flexibility on the airfield, the FAA said. "It's a matter of perspective for pilots most of the time because when you land at a large or small airport, while you can make out the runways and taxiways pretty easily looking at a paper diagram, when you're down on the surface it becomes a lot more difficult, especially at night or especially at night in rain," ABC News contributor and former commercial pilot John Nance said. Grant recipients include Miami International Airport, which will receive $6m to shift one taxiway and fix an intersection between two other taxiways, the FAA said.<br/>