Airports across Maine awarded $12M for infrastructure upgrades

FILE PHOTO / COURTESY PQI Presque Isle International Airport will receive millions of dollars for improvements.

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Airports from Bethel to Presque Isle are slated to receive $12 million in federal grants to make infrastructure improvements.

Most of the grants were funded through the Airport Infrastructure Grant program and Airport Terminals Program authorized under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The remaining funds were distributed through the Airport Improvement Program through Congress’s normal annual budgeting process.

The three programs support infrastructure to keep airports up to date, from constructing new terminals to rehabilitating taxiways.

Presque Isle International Airport was the big winner in this round of funding. Under the infrastructure and terminals programs, the airport is slated will receive $6.5 million to construct a larger, safer, more accessible and more energy-efficient terminal, a news release said.

Presque Isle will also get $481,117 to design and build a new 15,000-square-yard terminal apron to accommodate increased large passenger aircraft that are scheduled, and $130,530 to update pavement management plans. Under the improvements program, the airport will see $212,000 to rehabilitate taxiways, extending their use.

“In Maine’s most rural communities, air travel helps connect people, goods, emergency services and more,” said U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine 2nd District.

Other grants

Infrastructure and terminals

Eastport Municipal Airport: $1,124,800 to construct a new terminal to replace one removed in 2018;
Machias Valley Airport: $336,000 to construct 130 feet of new taxilane;
Augusta State Airport: $225,000 to rehabilitate a runway and taxiways;
Greenville Municipal Airport: $220,000 to replace an existing airport rotating beacon;
Newton Field Airport : $180,000 to reseal 7,500 feet of runway pavement;
Bethel Regional Airport: $100,000 to construct a 500-foot taxilane.

Improvements

Oxford County Regional Airport: $811,000 to reconstruct 25,333 square yards of pavement for the terminal apron;
State of Maine: $583,000 to update a state airport system pavement management plan for eligible nonprimary airports;
Caribou Municipal Airport: $433,000 to reconstruct 5,000 square yards of pavement for the terminal apron pavement;
Bethel Regional Airport: $302,000 to bring runways up to standards and reconstruct perimeter fencing;
Northern Aroostook Regional Airport: $266,000 to build a 250-foot taxilane to provide airfield access to a hangar development area, bringing the airport up to conformity with current standards;
Greenville Municipal Airport: $214,000 for new taxiways;
Augusta State Airport: $173,000 to reconstruct 24,000 square yards of the apron pavement;
Lincoln Regional Airport: $85,000 to acquire land adjacent to airport property to use for future development.