Wash. state airport secures over $27M in federal improvement grants, with support from McMorris Rodgers

U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) on July 9 announced that the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport in Whitman County, Wash., received three federal aviation improvement grants totaling almost $27.5 million.

The new grants for the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport are the latest grants the congresswoman said she has helped secure for the facility that total more than $68 million.

“These funds will continue to improve the Pullman-Moscow Airport which will, in turn, expand the services offered and further connect the Palouse, and all of Eastern Washington, with the rest of the world,” Rep. McMorris Rodgers said on Tuesday.

Nationwide, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) awarded a total of $477 million in airport infrastructure grants to 264 airports in 45 states, the Pacific Islands and the District of Columbia in the third allotment of the $3.18 billion in Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Airport Improvement Program funding.

The Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport will receive three grant awards: $76,495 and over $24.92 million to construct a runway; and $2.49 million to buy an emergency generator and snow removal equipment, as well as to install perimeter fencing and runway incursion markings, according to the FAA.

Local reports say the monies will fund the taxiway, stormwater infrastructure and all earth grading. The new runway is scheduled to open Oct. 10 with the final phase set for a 2021 completion date.

“I’m proud of the team in the Pullman community who have been working hard to see this project through,” said Rep. McMorris Rodgers. “Thank you to the Trump administration for making this a priority.”