The Duluth International Airport has received $9.5 million in federal funding to reconstruct a taxiway that no longer meets Federal Aviation Administration standards.
On Thursday, Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith announced that they had secured the funding through the Airport Improvement Program. With the funding the airport will reconstruct nearly 11,000 feet of Taxiway A, which officials say has reached the end of its useful life.
According to a Northern News Now report, the reconstruction will be a multi-year project to help the airport continue to meet the needs of commercial airlines and the 148th Fighter Wing. It’s the latest of a number of projects meant to bring the airport up to modern standards to receive federal funding.
Earlier this year, the Duluth Airport Authority unveiled the plans for their new air traffic control tower. Like the taxiway, officials say the air traffic control tower had reached the end of its useful life and no longer met the standards required by the Federal Aviation Administration.
When the plans for that project were announced, the airport authority had raised about $26 million of the $66 million it needed. Much of that funding was provided by the Airport Terminal Program through the Biden Administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Airport officials also expected to receive more federal funding for the project in future rounds of distribution. When the funding is acquired, construction on the new air traffic control tower could begin by next summer and wrap up by the end of 2026. Officials have not shared a potential end date for the reconstruction of the taxiway.
