During a visit to Texas this week, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) was releasing $495 million in airport infrastructure grants to 327 airports nationwide.
Of that funding, $57.1 million of it will go to eight Texas airports: Dallas-Fort Worth International, Fort Worth Alliance, Dallas Love Field, George Bush Intercontinental, El Paso International, Sheppard AFB/Wichita Falls Municipal, East Texas Regional and Tyler Pounds Regional.
“This significant investment at eight Texas airports will fund construction and rehabilitation projects that will help maintain high levels of safety in U.S. aviation,” Chao said.
Chao also took time to credit the Trump Administration’s United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) for such funding, claiming it has will eventually generate $34 billion in new automotive manufacturing investments and 76,000 automobile jobs. Those figures, backed by the Trump Administration, have notably been countered by the International Trade Commission (ITC), which suggested the agreement would likely only add 28,000 jobs in the auto sector, and a subsequent fall in assembly jobs as production costs rise.
The airport investments in Texas will go to a variety of efforts, from taxiway rehabilitation and extensions to reconstruction efforts, a new terminal building and access road for Sheppard, and an updated airport master plan for Tyler Pounds.