The Vidalia Regional Airport has just been awarded $2.2 million through the American Rescue Plan Act for a runway rehab project.
Employees at the airport say they have about 25 planes that fly in and out each week. This airport is also one of only four airports in the state to receive this ARPA funding.
Vidalia City Manager Nick Overstreet says, just last week, crews finished laying down this new surface, near the terminal, for the planes to park on. It’s called the apron. This was a $1.8 million project funded through the state and city.
Now, the airport is receiving federal dollars for their runway rehab project. The $2.2 million will allow them to tear out all the current concrete slabs on the runway and replace them. The city won’t have to put any money toward it.
Overstreet says a new runway is great for many reasons.
“It’s very important to the airport, it’s very important to the City of Vidalia and it’s very important to our local economy. It really brings a lot more aircraft that’s maybe not your smaller aircraft, but your larger aircraft to our city. This makes a direct impact on our economic development,” Overstreet said.
Even though the airport serves mostly smaller aircraft, we’ve heard some big-time celebrities have used this runway. Overstreet says they hope to continue to grow. He says construction on the runway project will begin in the summer of 2022.
https://www.wtoc.com/2021/11/15/vidalia-airport-gets-22-million-new-runway/