More Arizona airports receive $7M in federal infrastructure grants
Aug 3, 2018, 4:32 AM
(Sky Harbor Photo)
PHOENIX — Two Arizona airports have received more than $7 million in federal grants in order to improve the infrastructure, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced Thursday.
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport was granted $5.7 million to rebuild an area that allows the aircraft to park, load, unload and refuel, while the Grand Canyon West Airport in northwest Arizona will receive $1.95 million for multiple projects.
Heather Lissner with Sky Harbor told KTAR News 92.3 FM that the grant money will be used to maintain an apron in Terminal 4.
“This is where the planes pull up to the terminal and park at the gate,” she said. “It gets a tremendous amount of use.”
Lissner said construction on the Terminal 4 apron has been ongoing.
“Construction began in 2016 for the maintenance of the north tarmac, or apron, area,” she added.
“It’s an ongoing project that’s being done in phases to minimize impact to our customers.”
Lissner said Sky Harbor should receive the grant money within the next week or so.
Grand Canyon West Airport will use its $1.95 million in grant money on five projects: $1 million for heliport rehabilitation, $500,000 to install perimeter fencing, $195,000 for apron repairs, $130,000 for taxiway repairs and $125,000 for runway repairs.
The grants were part of $770.8 million in infrastructure grants given to airports nationwide from the Federal Aviation Administration. It was the third allotment in the Airport Improvement Program funding, which amounted to a total of $3.18 billion.
Last month, two other Phoenix-area airports received $17 million in infrastructure grants from the same program.
The Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport received two different grant amounts — $9.8 million to extend a taxiway and $819,000 to update the airport’s master plan study — while the Phoenix Goodyear Airport was awarded $6.5 million to reconstruct a taxiway.
In a statement, Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao said the grants are “investments in our country’s critical infrastructure” that will ensure that all airports “[remain] an economic engine as demand grows.”