The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is awarding $970 million from President Biden’s Bipartisan Investing in America agenda to 114 airports across the country, spanning 44 states and three territories. This will include three local airports– Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) in Maryland, Martin State Airport in Maryland, and Washington Dulles Airport in Virginia.
Many grants contain an element that will build new or expanded terminal facilities. Locally, they are:
- $35 million to Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia: This award funds a portion of the construction of a 14-gate, 400,000 sq. ft. terminal building including connections to the Aerotrain and Metrorail.
- $14.5 million to Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport in Maryland: This award funds terminal building improvements, which replaces up to 14 passenger boarding bridges that have reached the end of their useful life.
- $5.4 million to Martin State Airport in Middle River, Maryland: This award partially funds a new Airport Traffic Control Tower that has reached the end of its useful life.
A complete list of airports receiving funding can be found online.
Per the press release: “Today’s funding helps meet the growing demand for air travel and launches projects that will improve passenger experience, accessibility, and sustainability while creating good-paying jobs. Investments enhancing the passenger experience include new baggage systems, larger security checkpoints, increasing gate capacity, and modernizing aging infrastructure throughout terminals and ground transportation. These investments further increase terminal sustainability and improve accessibility for individuals with disabilities. Nine grants will address the needs of aging air traffic control towers.
“Under this administration, we are doing more to improve the travel experience than ever before, from expanding consumer protections to modernizing the physical infrastructure,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “These investments we’re announcing today, made possible by President Biden’s historic infrastructure package, will make it easier for passengers to get to and through airports, create jobs, and increase safety for all.”
View a data visualization of the airports receiving funding.
“Today’s funding not only helps modernize airports to meet the needs of travelers today and for years to come but also creates good-paying job opportunities in communities both large and small,” said FAA Associate Administrator for Airports, Shannetta R. Griffin, P.E. These awards are on top of the nearly $2 billion for airport terminals announced over the past two years. The vast majority of these terminal projects are under construction.
Today’s funding is from the Airport Terminal Program, one of three aviation programs created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and comes on the heels of more than $240 million in funding for Airport Infrastructure Grants. The law provides $1 billion annually for five years for Airport Terminal Program grants. In total, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provided a historic $25 billion to modernize our country’s airport infrastructure. Learn more at faa.gov/bil.
President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law makes a historic investment in our nation’s infrastructure and competitiveness by rebuilding America’s roads, bridges and rails, upgrading and expanding public transit, and modernizing the nation’s ports and airports. To date, the Administration has announced over $415 billion in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding for over 46,000 infrastructure projects across the nation and has mobilized over $640 billion in private sector manufacturing and clean energy investments in the United States.”
The full press release can be seen here.