Airport receives FAA allocation

By JANE NORDBERG, DMG Writer
FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP — There will be less turbulence on the road leading to the Houghton County Memorial Airport.

Airport Manager Dennis Hext said a recent Federal Aviation Administration grant will provide funding to rehabilitate the entrance road to the airport, including the repair or replacement of a deteriorating culvert.

The FAA grant of $801,337 is the bulk of $838,000 in improvements funding which also includes a 2.5-percent state and local match.

Work is scheduled to begin Aug. 3. The project has been bid out to an Upper Peninsula contractor, but a final contract has not yet been signed.

“If everything goes through, it will be a local contractor who will hire local people,” Hext said.

The FAA grant is about 25 percent less than the airport’s typical annual allocation, Hext said.

“They’re trying to balance the budget in Washington, and the appropriations committee is still debating how they want to spend some of our improvement money,” he said, adding he was optimistic the missing piece would eventually be approved.

“I’m expecting we’ll get another 25 percent by July or it may be carried over to next year,” Hext said.

The $1 million FAA grant is allotted the HCMA due to its traffic level of more than 10,000 annual passenger boardings.

“We get 27,000 passenger boardings out of the airport every year, and another 30,000 coming back,” Hext said.

A grant to provide funds to acquire an aircraft rescue and fire-fighting vehicle and a new front-end loader is still pending, he said. Word on that grant is expected in the next three to six months.



Jane Nordberg can be reached at jnordberg@mininggazette.com