PHOENIX – Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport will use a $14.4 million federal grant for terminal expansion and upgrades, officials announced Thursday.

The funding is part of almost $1 billion awarded to 85 airports across the country under the Bipartisan Infrastructure law.

The Mesa airport will replace a temporary four-gate annex with a permanent five-gate area that is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The upgrades will expand the terminal by 21,000 square feet.

“We’re proud our infrastructure law makes these historic investments strengthening safety and modernizing Arizona’s airports,” U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona said in a press release.

Sinema was a central figure in passage of the infrastructure bill, which fellow Arizona Democrats Sen. Mark Kelly and U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton backed as well.

The East Valley airport’s temporary annex had been in use for nearly 15 years, Stanton said in a March letter to U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

According to city statistics, the airport expects to see 10 million passengers by 2030. In 2016, the airport had 1.3 million travelers.

Five airlines – Allegiant, WestJet, Swoop, Flair and Sun Country — operate out of the airport to more than 60 destinations across the U.S. and Canada.

The 35-square-mile airport near Santan Freeway Loop 202 and Sossaman Road has been in service since 1943.

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