FAA Awards $187M in Infrastructure Grants

FAA Awards $187M in Grants for Infrastructure, Other Improvements

Grants come from a five-year, $14.5 billion IIJA program.

Graphic by ENR Art Dept.

The Federal Aviation Administration has good news for 91 U.S. airports, with the announcement of $186.7 million in grants, mostly for runways, terminals, hangars and other infrastructure.

The grants, announced on May 31, will go for projects and other improvements in 34 states and are the latest round of such aid from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s Airport Infrastructure Grants Program.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement that the grants “will help 91 airports make critical upgrades to improve travel and further modernize our aviation infrastructure.”

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The largest grant, totaling $61.8 million, was awarded to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Michigan. The funds will go to rehabilitate an on-airport roadway for aircraft rescue, according to the FAA.

The second-largest award, $23.5 million, went to San Diego International Airport to help finance a new 1.2-million-sq-ft terminal that will have 30 gates.

Also among the recipients are: Pittsburgh International Airport, which was awarded two grants, totaling $20.5 million, to rebuild its existing terminal; and Kodiak Airport in Alaska, which is getting $19.7 million to reconstruct a taxiway’s pavement.

Most of the grants are for infrastructure, but some will go for other purposes, such as updating master plans and acquiring snow removal and navigation equipment.

In all, the IIJA has $25 billion for airport grants over five years, including $14.5 billion for the Airport Infrastructure Grant Program.

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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