Additional federal funding may be available for Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport.
On Tuesday, the Jackson City Council will vote on three resolutions that could secure nearly $24 million for the city’s airport through three federal grants.
Two of the grants, one for $6,203,694 and another for $17,167,606, are to be used for “repairs and alterations” to one of the airport’s taxiways, according to council documents. The third grant is valued at $179,730 and is to be used for “repairs and alterations” to the runway safety area.
The total for all three is USD 23,550,430.
Council documents show that the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority applied for the grants on July 8. Ten days later, on July 18, the Federal Aviation Administration offered all three grants to the JMAA. The council will vote on Tuesday on resolutions related to the three grants, which authorize Rosa Beckett, the airport’s executive director, to accept the FAA grants on behalf of the JMAA.
All three are airport improvement grants under the bipartisan infrastructure bill signed into law by President Joe Biden in November 2021.
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“The bipartisan infrastructure bill provides $15 billion in funding for airport infrastructure. The money can be invested in runways, taxiways, safety and sustainability projects, as well as terminals, airport transit connections and road projects,” the FAA website states.
If the grants are approved, it will mean a total of nearly $32 million in federal grants approved for Jackson Airport in 2024. Earlier this year, the JMAA received another $8 million grant as part of the bipartisan U.S. Airport Terminal Infrastructure Act to be used to repair some of the airport’s infrastructure.
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Last week, the Hattiesburg Airport received a $1,574,496 grant from the Mississippi Department of Transportation’s Strategic Multi-Modal Investments Fund to improve an existing runway and build a new one at the airport.
