MEM CTLR DESCRIBES INCIDENT WHEN RWY 27 WAS RELEASED FOR TAXIING TO GND CTL BUT COORD FAILED RESULTING IN GAR TO ACFT ON APCH TO RWY 27.

Narrative

I WAS WORKING GND CTL 1 DURING THE AFTERNOON DEP PUSH. MEM WAS LNDG RWY 36C; DEPARTING RWY 36L AND RWY 36R; AND RWY 27 HAD BEEN 'RELEASED TO GND CTL' FOR XING AND TAXIING ACFT FROM THEIR RAMP AREA TO THE DEP RWYS. DURING THIS DEP PUSH; 1) RWY 27 WAS NOT ADVERTISED ON THE ATIS AS AN ARR OR DEP RWY; 2) RWY 27 WAS NOT POSTED IN THE STARS SYS INFO AREA; 3) 'RWY 27 RELEASED TO GND CTL' WAS POSTED IN THE STARS MESSAGE AREA; 4) VERBAL COORD HAD TAKEN PLACE BTWN THE TRACON SUPVR AND THE TWR SUPVR REGARDING THE STATUS OF RWY 27; 5) VERBAL COORD HAD TAKEN PLACE BTWN THE TWR SUPVR AND ALL TWR LCL AND GND CTL POS; AND 6) 'RWY 27 RELEASED TO GND' STRIPS WERE POSTED AT ALL LCL AND GND CTL POS. ACR X; AN H/DC10 CALLED FOR TAXI. THIS ACFT REQUIRED RWY 36C FOR OPERATIONAL REASONS. DUE TO THE FACT THAT TXWY V WAS BLOCKED BY A DISABLED ACFT; I UTILIZED TXWY V4; RWY 27 AND TXWY C FOR ACR X TO TAXI TO RWY 36C. RWY 27 IS ROUTINELY 'RELEASED TO GND CTL' DURING THE INBOUND/OUTBOUND PUSHES; AND IT IS A COMMON TECHNIQUE TO UTILIZE RWY 27 TO EXPEDITE THE FLOW OF TFC. AS ACR X TURNED EBOUND ONTO RWY 27; THE CREW QUESTIONED ME ABOUT 'THE TFC ON FINAL TO RWY 27.' I LOOKED OUT THE WINDOW AND SAW LNDG LIGHTS ON THE FINAL APCH COURSE. I THEN LOOKED AT THE STAR DISPLAY AND OBSERVED A BE58; 3 MI FINAL; TAGGED FOR ARR ON RWY 27. I YELLED AT THE LCL CTL 2 POS AND TOLD HIM TO 'BREAK OUT THE BARON ON RWY 27; I HAVE TFC ON THE RWY.' THE LCL CTL 2 CTLR WAS NOT TALKING TO THE BE58; AND HAD TO CALL THE ARR E CTLR FOR COMS XFER. WHEN THE LCL CTL 2 CTLR MADE CONTACT WITH THE BE58; HE INSTRUCTED THE BE58 TO MAKE A R 360 DEG TURN TO AVOID TFC ON THE RWY; AND I WAS SUBSEQUENTLY ABLE TO INFORM ACR X THAT THE BE58 WAS GOING TO ABANDON THE APCH. THROUGH DISCUSSION IN THE TWR; I LEARNED THAT THE SUPVR HAD INFORMED THE CLRNC DELIVERY CTLR TO CREATE A NEW ATIS THAT ADVERTISED RWY 27 AS AN ACTIVE RWY. THE CLRNC DELIVERY CTLR MADE THE ATIS AND THEN ADDED RWY 27 AS AN ARR RWY TO THE SYS INFO AREA. THE TWR SUPVR THEN COORD WITH THE TRACON SUPVR TO ALLOW RWY 27 ARRS. THE COMS CHAIN GOT BROKE WHEN THE TWR SUPVR NEGLECTED TO INFORM THE TWR LCL AND GND CTLRS THAT THIS COORD HAD TAKEN PLACE. THE 'RWY 27 RELEASED TO GND CTL' STRIPS WERE STILL POSTED AT BOTH GND CTL STRIP BAYS; AND 'RWY 27 RELEASED TO GND CTL' WAS STILL POSTED IN THE STARS MESSAGE AREA. THIS IS A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION THAT REQUIRES PRECISE COORD. UNFORTUNATELY; THE COORD IS FLAWED ON A DAILY BASIS. THE STATUS OF WHO ACTUALLY OWNS RWY 27 IS OFTEN A SUBJECT OF DISCUSSION DUE TO THE FACT THAT COORD IS OFTEN INCOMPLETE. I HAVE PERSONALLY WITNESSED SEVERAL ACFT 'GO AROUND' TO GND CTL XING RWY 27 AT INAPPROPRIATE TIMES; AND DUE TO THE FACT THAT THERE WAS CONFUSION ON WHO ACTUALLY 'OWNED' RWY 27. I FEEL THAT I ALSO CONTRIBUTED TO THE PROB DUE TO THE FACT THAT I DID NOT SCAN THE FINAL APCH COURSE OR LOOK AT THE STARS DISPLAY PRIOR TO ISSUING TAXI INSTRUCTIONS TO ACR X. I WILL MAKE AN EFFORT TO LOOK OUT THE WINDOW AND SCAN MORE DELIBERATELY IN THE FUTURE. IT WOULD BE NICE TO SEE OUR FACILITY ADDRESS THIS SITUATION IN A MORE PROACTIVE MANNER BEFORE 2 ACFT ACTUALLY COLLIDE ON RWY 27.