Grand Junction Regional Airport will use a $250,000 state grant toward completing design on a new main runway.
The Colorado Division of Aeronautics awarded the grant on Monday as part of a package of grants totaling $2.7 million to 27 Colorado airports.
The funding will be combined with other sources to complete the first phase of reconstructing a portion of the tarmac near the terminal and on the overall design of a new runway.
The airport authority is considering constructing a new east-west runway to the north of the existing runway, which is in need of repair or replacement.
Constructing a new runway is estimated to cost about $100 million and would require that the airport acquire lands now held by the Bureau of Land Management. An environmental assessment is now underway.
The grants are funded by taxes on aviation fuel sold within Colorado and no state general funds are included.
In addition to the state funding, the Grand Junction Regional Airport projects are to be funded by $541,000 from local sources and $7.1 million from the Federal Aviation Administration for a total cost of $7.9 million.
Grants went to several other regional airports in western Colorado, including $250,000 to Telluride Regional Airport, $66,736 to Montrose Regional Airport and $16,666 each to Rangely and Meeker airports.
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/gj-airport-gets-grant-of-250k-from-state