The Iowa Transportation Commission recently approved $8.3 million for the fiscal year 2023 State Aviation Program, an initiative that supplements local and federal funding sources.
A total of $5.4 million will fund the Airport Improvement Program (AIP). Funding is from revenue from aircraft registration fees and aviation fuel taxes.
The program funds aviation safety initiatives, system planning, and air service development activities. Eligible AIP projects include air service initiatives; maintenance of aviation weather systems; runway marking; runway, taxiway, and apron development; emergency operational repairs; land-use planning; and the mitigation of obstruction and wildlife hazards at airports.
Also included in the $5.4 million is funding for airport development projects at 21 airports.
A total of $2.9 million will fund aviation vertical infrastructure programs that provide money for the maintenance and development of airport facilities. This includes terminal buildings, maintenance facilities, and aviation hangars.
The $2.9 million will fund projects at six general aviation airports and eight commercial service airports.
“It’s good to be back to normalized funding streams, but now we need to continue to find ways to stretch funding that has lost buying power with increased costs of materials and labor,” Tammy Nicholson, Modal Transportation Bureau director, said.
Vertical infrastructure programs are funded from the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund.