Two Omaha airports and 19 others in Nebraska are slated to obtain federal grants totaling $15.3 million awarded to the Nebraska Division of Transportation for airport enhancements throughout the state.
Eppley Airfield will obtain the biggest grant, $5.37 million, to assist pay for the brand new all-weather cover being put in over the terminal drive. The $65 million undertaking started final June and is scheduled for completion in spring 2025.
Millard Airport will obtain $293,000 to repave 1,500 toes of its taxi lane, an space between the airfield’s taxiways and its hangars.
Different massive grants have been awarded to the North Platte Regional Airport ($2.69 million) and the Lincoln Airport ($1.49 million).
Chad Lay, improvement director for the Lincoln Airport Authority, mentioned in an announcement the funds haven’t been allotted for a particular undertaking but however will possible go towards a rehabilitation undertaking for the airport’s 13,000-foot runway, which is anticipated to value $80 million to $90 million.
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The grants are from the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Legislation, handed by Congress in 2021. The invoice offered $15 billion for airport-related initiatives over 5 years, starting in 2022.
The grants are distributed to airports primarily based on the variety of clients they serve. The cash could also be invested in runways, taxiways, security and sustainability initiatives, in addition to terminal, airport-transit connections and roadway initiatives.
Those introduced this week are the second group introduced for fiscal 12 months 2024, which started Oct. 1.
Nebraska Republican Sens. Deb Fischer and Pete Ricketts introduced the awards in a joint assertion this week.
The renovation of Eppley’s terminal will cap a 30-year transformation of the Omaha airport, together with rebuilt runways, a brand new storage, entry street, and an all-weather cover over the terminal drive.
“These strategic investments in crucial infrastructure will enhance security and help the continued progress of communities throughout our state,” Ricketts mentioned within the assertion.
Fischer and Rep. Don Bacon have been the one members of the all-Republican Nebraska delegation to help the Bipartisan Infrastructure Legislation, which handed the Senate 69-30 and the Home 228-206. Rep. Adrian Smith, then-Sen. Ben Sasse, and then-Rep. Jeff Fortenberry voted in opposition to it. Ricketts was not but within the Senate.
“I used to be proud to vote for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Legislation to help Nebraska’s airports,” Fischer mentioned in her assertion. “Nebraska continues to see a return on that funding.”
Bacon touted the enhancements that will likely be funded in Omaha.
“Eppley Airfield’s continued enhancements and development of latest areas will add to the options and security for vacationers flying out and in of Omaha,” he mentioned in an announcement.
Images: Omaha’s Eppley Airfield briefly altering pick-up/drop-off location