JACKSON — The U.S. Department of Transportation is awarding more than $10 million in grants that will be divided among 35 Mississippi airports.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran, R-Miss., said the grants will pay for project to make airports safer and more efficient, such as runway rehabilitation, new lights and new signs.
Money is coming from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, which is supported by user fees, fuel taxes and similar revenue sources, Cochran said in a news release. The grants cover 75 percent of costs for large and medium primary hub airports, and 90 to 95 percent of costs for small primary, reliever and general aviation airports.
“I appreciate the fact that communities also use these improvements to increase the value of their airport facilities as economic development tools,” Cochran said.
The Columbus-Lowndes County airport was issued a $166,157 grant for tree obstruction removal.
David Armstrong, chief operating officer for the city of Columbus and a member of the airport board, said the grants are awarded regularly to meet the needs of regional airports.
“This year, we applied for tree obstruction removal, but in other years, the grant might be needed for other things,” Armstrong said. “Tree obstruction is a much bigger issue for the smaller airports because the big airports have much more land. To use the grants, we have to get permission from the land-owners, since the trees are on private land, but the land-owners have been very cooperative. Of course, they are compensated out of the grants, too, so it works out pretty well.”
Other grants were awarded to:
■ Tupelo Regional Airport: $716,779 for runway safety improvements, fencing installation and runway rehabilitation.
■ Eupora Airport: $374,194 for airport apron, runway and taxiway rehabilitation.
■ Winona-Montgomery County Airport: $234,540 for hangar building and taxiway construction.
■ Okolona Municipal-Richard Stovall Field Airport: $180,163 for runway lighting rehabilitation.
■ Houston Municipal Airport: $113,004 for taxiway construction.
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