Colorado funds airports including San Luis Valley Regional

The San Luis Valley Regional Airport in Alamosa is set to receive funds from the Colorado Aeronautical Board and the Department of Transportation. Photo by John Waters

COLORADO– The Colorado Aeronautical Board (CAB) has approved a second round of FY 2022 Colorado Discretionary Aviation Grant funding allocated to match federally-funded airport projects in Colorado. The unanimous decision authorized the distribution of just over $3 million in state aviation fuel tax revenues that support the CDAG Program administered by the Colorado Department of Transportation’s Division of Aeronautics.

This round of state aviation grants matched federal funding for the Federal Airport Improvement Program (AIP) and the recently approved Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). State aviation funding to match AIP projects had been paused for the past two years due to 100% federal airport project funding supported by COVID-19 relief funding. The federal AIP program normally requires airports to provide a 10% local funding match, of which the Division of Aeronautics typically provides half, up to $250,000 annually.

In Alamosa, the San Luis Valley Regional Airport will receive $37,721 in state funding and $1,508,884 in federal funding for runway pavement, maintenance and safety area drainage study and improvements and for snow removal equipment. The funds will also be utilized for an aircraft rescue and firefighting building.

Combining funding from the AIP and BIL, 30 Colorado airports were awarded a total of $3,018,418 in state matching funds which leveraged a total of $84,011,983 in federal funding. Combining the total funding during this round of funding with the $5.5 million awarded in February for state & local airport projects, the total funding for 2022 statewide airport projects comes in at a total of just under $100 million. This grand total marks the most funding awarded since the Division was founded in 1991.


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