FAA Awards $246M for Runways, Other Airport Projects

FAA Awards $244M for Airfield, Terminal Projects

Funding for the airport infrastructure grants comes from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Graphic by ENR Art Dept.

The Federal Aviation Administration has awarded $243.7 million for airport infrastructure grants around the country to improve runways and taxiways and expand or build terminals.

In announcing the selections on Jan. 30, FAA said that its latest batch of awards includes 153 grants in 37 states. The funds come from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. [View list of grants here.]

The largest grant is $45 million to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to rehabilitate a section of runway to maintain the pavement’s structural integrity and minimize debris from foreign objects.

Another large runway grant is going to Ontario International in California, which was awarded $15.2 million to rehabilitate a section of runway and reconstruct a portion of a taxiway.

Some of the airfield-related projects will go toward improvements to runways to reduce the risk of incursions, FAA said. Others will help fund reconfiguring taxiways.

About a dozen grants will help finance airport terminal projects. They include Sitka Rocky Gutierrez in Alaska, which is receiving $18 million to expand its existing terminal by18,000 sq ft.

Also on the list is Des Moines International in Iowa, which was awarded $5.5 million to construct a new 295,000-sq-ft terminal that is to include six gates.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement that air travel demand is expected to increase, adding that the grants "are making it possible to modernize our country's aging airport infrastructure to meet this demand today and ensure safe, efficient travel into the future."

Most of the grant funds will go for construction projects, but about $2.1 million will help purchase rescue and firefighting vehicles.

Tom Ichniowski has been writing about the federal government as ENR’s Washington Bureau Chief since the George H.W. Bush administration, and he has covered at least five major highway bills. A recognized expert on government policy on infrastructure and regulation, Tom is also a Baltimore native and Orioles fan who grew up rooting for Brooks and Frank Robinson. He is a graduate of Columbia College and Columbia’s graduate school of journalism, where he once used “unrelentless” in a headline.

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