Spokane Using $15M Stimulus Grant to Extend Runway

Project to create 100 new jobs

Spokane International Airport (GEG) received $15 million in stimulus funds to assist with runway and apron improvements, creating as many as 100 jobs and allowing for completion nearly 10 years ahead of schedule, according to airport spokesman Todd Woodard.

“We realized there was an opportunity to access an additional revenue source for two high priority capital projects that were not identified for construction in 2009,” Woodard said of the airport’s strategy to incorporate funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into its capital plans. Read more.

Woodard said airport officials began consulting with the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA’s) Northwest Mountain Region Office in September 2008 on the potential to address projects that were mutually identified as integral to the safety and capacity of the airport. They briefed the airport board the following month about the planned improvements and the need for engineering design services to be completed and ready for construction by early spring 2009. After being given the go-ahead by the FAA in March, improvement projects were ready to bid in April.

Over the past two decades, Spokane International acquired property to extend its runway, while preparing plans and funding for other capital improvement projects, Woodard said. The stimulus funds will supplement funds acquired through Passenger Facility Charges (PFCs), the Airport Improvement Program, and the airport’s general revenues.

The airport is adding 2,000 feet to the runway, increasing its length to 11,000 feet.  The added distance will allow the airport, a FedEx and UPS hub, to accommodate more long-haul aircraft, as well as eliminate costly weight and balance restrictions they experience on excessively hot summer days.  Rehabilitation and expansion of the terminal apron will increase the airport’s overnight parking capacity by about 20 percent, a valuable improvement for commercial carriers. The runway and apron projects are part of the initial phase of Spokane’s five-year, $112 million capital initiative.

“The stimulus project is working as designed,” said Woodard. The funds have allowed Spokane to make improvements necessary to improve safety and efficiency, as well as providing jobs.

“Better infrastructure sustains more passenger and cargo volume and tenants, and supports ongoing efforts to enhance the region’s growing aerospace cluster of maintenance, manufacturing and other like businesses,” wrote Dave Clack, chairman of the Spokane Airport Board, and Tim Welsh, president of Acme Concrete Paving Inc., in a Guest Editorial to The Spokesman-Review.

“The recovery is being realized,” said Woodard, “and our facility is now in a much better position to take advantage of the efficiencies of the Spokane region.”