Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Mark Udall and Michael Bennet today announced grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) totaling more than $20 million for upgrades at three Colorado airports. The grants are funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the recent economic recovery package that both Sens. Udall and Bennet supported.
Grants were awarded to Denver International Airport ($7 million for runway rehabilitation and $5 million for apron improvements), Centennial Airport ($4.05 million for taxiway rehabilitation), and Aspen-Pitkin County Airport ($4 million for apron improvements).
“These grants will be used to immediately put Coloradans to work addressing needs at Colorado airports that are long overdue,” Sen. Udall said. “In addition to creating jobs, the projects that these grants will fund will improve safety and efficiency, helping to attract new business and grow our tourism industry.”
“These grants are great news for Colorado because they will create jobs, improve safety at our airports and help to get our economy moving again. This is a valuable investment that will make long-term improvements to our airports’ runways while giving Colorado’s economy the boost it needs right now,” Sen. Bennet said.
These grants were allocated through the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Improvement Program (AIP). The economic recovery package passed by Congress and signed into law earlier this year provides $1.1 billion for the AIP, which provides grants to public agencies-and, in some cases, to private owners and entities-for the planning and development of public-use airports that are included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems.