(The Center Square) — The Federal Aviation Administration is sending more than $14.8 million in taxpayer money for airport improvement projects in Georgia.
The feds awarded more than $6.9 million to the Georgia State Block Grant Program, which supports airports categorized as “other than primary.” Under the FAA’s State Block Grant Program, which began in 1989, states administer federal Airport Improvement Program grants and determine the locations that receive project funds.
The feds also awarded $7.2 million to Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport to construct or improve a fuel farm.
The money is part of $110 million from the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, sometimes called the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. As part of the latest funding announcement, the feds awarded 74 grants to airports in 32 states to modernize airport and runway infrastructure and improve airfield safety.
In a news release, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called the funding “another good step in a multi-billion dollar modernization.”
Additionally, the FAA awarded $675,000 to Cobb County International Airport-McCollum Field near Kennesaw to replace equipment in the airport’s traffic control tower that has reached the end of its useful life. The money is part of a $20 million tranche of funding the agency handed out to 20 airport-owned traffic control towers in 17 states.
By T.A. DeFeo | The Center Square contributor
