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County accepts FAA grants to repair taxiway and build aerospace apron at New Bern airport
Summary
The board authorized acceptance of two FAA grants for taxiway design and an apron in the county's corporate aerospace area, describing roughly $1.35 million in AIG funding for a 3.05-acre concrete apron and larger local and state matches supporting about $15.7 million invested to date.
Craven County commissioners authorized acceptance of two FAA grants to support airport improvements including design work on a parallel taxiway, a Williams Road realignment tied to runway safety, and apron and taxi lane work in the county's corporate aerospace development area.
Andrew (Andy) Shorter described the grants and estimates: the design work for the taxiway and Williams Road realignment includes a federal design allocation (roughly $507,000 cited for design) and a second Airport Improvement Grant of $1,345,745 to support apron and taxi-lane construction in the leased 55-acre development area. Shorter said the apron will be "about 3.05 acres of 18 inches of concrete" to accommodate medium-sized aircraft and noted prior federal funding and state and local matches bring total invested infrastructure in the area to roughly $15.7 million.
Shorter said FAA buy-in on the design and environmental steps positions the county to seek construction funding later; he told commissioners the Williams Road realignment will move from roughly 30% design to 100% design under the awarded grants and that construction grant acceptance could be expected about a year from now.
Why it matters: The grants support runway and apron upgrades that county staff say will facilitate aerospace business development on a leased 55-acre campus and create higher-wage jobs; they also include multimodal and safety-related realignment tied to FAA environmental review and design requirements.
What’s next: The board authorized staff to accept the grants and execute necessary documentation; staff will continue with environmental and design steps and return when construction funding is available.
