On Tuesday, July 9, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released a summary of grant money for airport projects across the country that includes a grant of $9.3 million for Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTIA).

That money will be used to help pay for a runway renovation project that airport officials say has been a long time coming and is badly needed.

This week, PTIA Executive Director Kevin Baker said the $9.3 million is only a part of the money the FAA is contributing to repair and enhance the runway at the airport.

According to Baker, the total project over multiple years is expected to cost close to $100 million – and the FAA, he said, will have funded about 90 percent of the cost when all expected federal payments are in.

“We have to match the rest,” Baker said.

Other airports around the country are seeing plenty of money as well according to the data released Tuesday.  US Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao announced in a press release that accompanied the grant summary that the agency will award $477 million in airport infrastructure grants to 264 airports in 44 states and the Pacific Islands.

These grants are part of the third allotment of an ongoing $3.2-billion “Airport Improvement Program” with the money being awarded to airports across the United States.

According to Chao, the airport Infrastructure projects conducted using these grants will “advance safety, improve travel, generate jobs and provide other economic benefits for local communities.”

Some of the projects around the country involve runway reconstruction and rehabilitation similar to the runway project at PTIA, while other ventures will do things like add firefighting facilities to airports and improve taxiways, aprons and terminals.

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