The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded a $7 million grant to the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport to help with its runway expansion project.
The grant was part of a larger $586 million airport infrastructure grant package announced Tuesday. In all, airports in Washington state received a total of $10.6 million in grants Tuesday from the federal transportation department’s Airport Improvement Program.
The need for upgraded facilities at the Pullman regional airport is a result of the growing number of passengers, and the airport’s introduction of larger aircraft. The airport is in the midst of more than $140 million in construction projects, which began in 2016. Washington U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Senate Aviation Subcommittee, claimed credit for securing the $7 million grant.
In June, Cantwell also helped guide two grants totaling $10 million to the airport to help pave the new 7,100-foot runway, and build an instrument landing system.
In August 2017, the airport received a $5.2 million grant to realign the runway to meet Federal Aviation Administration design standards.
The most recent grant will also go toward paving and finishing the new runway, which is anticipated to be operational in fall 2019. (Spokesman-Review)
