The Iowa Transportation Commission has unanimously approved state funding for projects at two Iowa airports.
The legislature set aside $10 million in the state budget for airport terminal projects. The commission has voted to provide that $10 million to the Des Moines Airport for the plan to build a new passenger terminal. The total project cost is $113 million. “Construction is underway for this project and it looks great,” DOT aviation director Tim McClung told the commission, “…so we have some nice modernization project happening.”
Earlier this month, Polk County voters approved $350 million in county bonds to finance not only the new terminal, but renovating and expanding the baggage claim, check-in and security screening areas of the Des Moines Airport.
The state Transportation Commission has also approved a more than half a million dollar state grant for roadwork near the airport in Cedar Rapids. “The proposed RISE roadway will improve access to the passenger terminal at the Eastern Iowa Airport,” Deb Arp, team leader fo the DOT’s Systems Planning Bureau, said during Tuesday’s Iowa Transportation Commission meeting.
RISE stands for Revitalize Iowa’s Sound Economy and this RISE grant goes to the City of Cedar Rapids. The project will “realign” a section of a road near the Eastern Iowa Airport that’s nearly as long as two football fields. The total cost of the project is nearly $2 million.