TEXARKANA -- Texarkana's Regional Airport Board agreed Thursday to grant Chairman Holmes Morel the authority to sign all federal documents related to the airport's receiving nearly $1 million in grant money to design a new taxiway.
Airport Director Mark Mellinger told board members during their regular monthly meeting that the airport will receive the paperwork this week for the nearly $983,000 allocation from the Federal Aviation Administration.
U.S. legislative officials announced the award last week.
The taxiway will be built along with a new passenger terminal by 2021. It will flank the primary runway, which is about 6,600 feet long.
The grant funds 90 percent of the estimated $1,092,220 it takes to design the taxiway, Mellinger said. The other 10 percent, about $109,222, will come from Arkansas Department of Aeronautics matching grants.
The taxiway will be close to the proposed new passenger terminal, which will sit across from the airport's main runway. The new terminal will have an entrance off East 19th Street.
Plans for the project began to take shape in the mid-2000s.
Once Morel signs the agreement documents, engineers can begin the six- to eight-month design phase for the taxiway, Mellinger said.
State Desk on 07/23/2017