ST. PAUL — The Range Regional Airport needs millions of dollars to renovate the facility built in the late-1970s.
If state legislation is approved, the airport could get $5 million in bonds to renovate and expand the terminal, which would require more than 50 construction jobs.
Coupled with federal funds already secured and more hoped for, the financial package for three improvement projects would tally $14.5 million.
The airport cannot meet the current Transit Security Association’s regulations that changed after the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001. It also has major overcrowding issues.
The airport has one holding room for security with no bathrooms after the checkpoint. This puts stress on agents who have to process 100 to 140 people within 30 minutes, said Shaun Germolus, director of Range Regional Airport.
The airport services two daily flights arriving from and leaving for Minneapolis. There is also one weekend flight that usually comes from Nevada. The airport has seen a huge increase in the average number of passengers a year from roughly 8,500 in 2009 to more than 12,000 in the last three years. Germolus says he expects passenger load to bump up to 15,000 in the near future.
Last session, Range delegates tried to push a similar bonding bill for the airport in Hibbing. But because it was a bonding year, the airport was competing with a lot of other city projects like community centers and public works, Germolus said.
The airport would need both federal funding and state funding to fully refurbish the terminal, a concrete ramp and renovations to the runways and security equipment.
Germolus is asking the Federal Aviation Administration for $3 million to $4 million in discretionary funds. The FAA currently gives the airport $1 million per year because it boards more than 10,000 passengers.
Construction of the building on its own is estimated at $5.5 million. Additional projects, including $3 million to reconstruct a concrete ramp and $6 million to improve the taxi and apron of the runway are also in the works if the airport can raise the funds. Germolus also hopes to update the heating and ventilation system to make the building more energy efficient.
Chief House author Rep. Carly Melin, DFL-Hibbing, says the airport renovation is something that is really needed.
If a bonding bill goes through this year, chief Senate author Sen. David Tomassoni, DFL-Chisholm, said he is confident the airport bill will be approved.
The design is currently 30 percent complete, completion, said Darren Christopher of Reynolds, Smith & Hills Inc., the Jacksonville, Fla.-based firm working on the Hibbing airport’s renovation.
Since TSA took over a portion of the building after 9/11, there is also a need for a luggage carousel. Passengers arriving to the airport currently have to pick up their bags at the curb.
Germolus said those conditions are less than ideal for his passengers coming from the dessert of Nevada to Hibbing in the dead of winter, where more than 116 bags can be unloaded onto the sidewalk.
He hopes to double the size of the existing terminal and modernize the rest of the airport so that it looks seamless.
Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board Commissioner Tony Sertich said the agency would contribute to funding, though the amount has not been determined.
The IRRRB’s most recent contribution to the airport was $400,000 to renovate an aircraft hanger. Since 1982, the IRRRB has provided $4,144,484 in grant funding for the facility, said IRRRB Communications Coordinator Sheryl Kochevar.
If the airport bill fails this year, Germolus said he’ll have to wait until next session, which is a bonding year.
The Range Regional Airport isn’t the only airport trying to keep up with the new regulations. The Duluth airport received roughly $16 million from the Legislature for a $78 million project, which was completed on Jan. 14, to update its airport terminal.
Source: http://www.grandrapidsmn.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment