The FAA has agreed to invest an additional $5.9 million in the Elkhart Municipal Airport between 2020 and 2025, city offiicials said this week.
This story by Rasmus Jorgensen originally appeared in The Elkhart Truth.
Outgoing Mayor Tim Neese said last week that federal investment in the Elkhart Municipal Airport will continue for years to come.
Over the past four years, the airport has received nearly $3 million in grants from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) aimed at improving both safety and navigation. Neese said he is pleased to announce that the investments are anticipated to continue for another six years.
The $5.9 million will go toward the final phase of the replacement of the airport’s 40-year-old perimeter fence as well as runway and taxiway lighting and pavement improvements.
Airport director David Pixey said that the repaired fence, which will be 10-feet high, should last another 40 years. The repair is necessary, he said, because wildlife has been getting inside the fence.
The runway that will be repaved was last paved around 1980, according to Pixey.
The funding is part of the FAA’s Airport Improvement Program that provides grants to public agencies – and, in some cases, to private owners and entities – that are significant to national air transportation.
For the Elkhart Municipal Airport improvements, the FAA’s $5.9 million contribution is anticipated to cover 90 percent of the costs, while both the Indiana Department of Transportation and the City of Elkhart would pay 5 percent, equaling $328,121 each.
