Passengers arriving and departing Kansas City International Airport will soon get a smoother ride — when they’re on the ground, at least.
The Federal Aviation Administration announced Friday that KCI will receive $19 million in federal funding to reconstruct a 9,000-foot taxiway that’s reached the end of its useful life.
The grant from the FAA Airport Improvement Program is part of $90 million in funding that’s going to airport projects in six states. The other recipients include airports in Huntsville, Alabama; Portland, Oregon; and Knoxville, Tennessee.
$19 million FAA Airport Improvement Fund grant to Kansas City International
Construction is set to begin next spring with a completion date next November.
The Airport Improvement Program pays for 75 percent of the cost of eligible projects. Generally, projects that improve airport safety, security, capacity or environmental issues are eligible.
“A safe and efficient air transportation system for the traveling public requires building and maintaining the airport infrastructure at our nation’s airports,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement Friday.
A safe and efficient air transportation system for the traveling public requires building and maintaining the airport infrastructure at our nation’s airports.
Anthony Foxx, USDOT
The program’s funding comes from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, which receives its revenue from the excise taxes and fees that airline passengers pay on domestic tickets and flight segments, as well as international arrivals and departures.
At the beginning of 2016, the trust fund had a balance of about $14 billion.
The project to rebuild KCI’s Taxiway B is not related to a controversial proposal to consolidate the airport’s three 42-year old terminals into one new terminal.
Curtis Tate: 202-383-6018, @tatecurtis