Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman today announced that the Federal Aviation Administration has awarded millions of dollars in formula funding for New Mexico airports.   

Bingaman said he was particularly pleased that airports in Roswell and Santa Fe will receive a major boost in funding this year because they reached the 10,000 passenger threshold – a status that gives them access to more than the $150,000 small airports receive.  Roswell and Santa Fe will each receive $1 million.  Farmington’s Four Corners Regional Airport continues to qualify for $1 million in funding.

The Albuquerque Sunport will be awarded $3.7 million.  Dozens of other airports, named here, will receive $150,000.  Additionally, the New Mexico Department of Transportation will receive $6.7 million, which it can use at any airport except Sunport.   Each of the communities must apply to FAA to receive the funding. 

“This grant funding allows our state’s airports to be properly maintained, ensuring that New Mexicans can travel safely by air,” Bingaman said. 

In addition to the funding announced today, Bingaman last month pressed the FAA to use some of its fiscal year 2009 discretionary grant funding for:

Clovis - Extend and Reconstruct Runway 04/22.  These improvements are needed to accommodate the existing traffic as well as increased traffic associated with the new mission for Cannon Air Force Base. The engineering design for the extension is complete and ready to go to bid.  The estimated cost of the project is about $7.4 million.   

Moriarty – Construct Crosswind Runway 18/36 and Rehabilitate Runway 08/26.  The state is requesting funds to upgrade Moriarty Municipal Airport with a new north/south crosswind runway.  The FONSI for this project was in June 2007.  The design for this crosswind runway could begin this year and be ready to go to bid in 120 days.  The estimated cost of the new crosswind runway is $6 million. The city is in the final stages of land acquisition and will have ownership of all the land by the end of May 2009.  The second project is the rehabilitation of runway 08/26 at a cost of $4 million.  The state prefers to construct the new crosswind runway first so that the airport would not have to shut down while the existing primary runway is rehabilitated.

Raton – Strengthen and Extend Runway 02/20.  The strengthening will consist of a mill and overlay.  The design for the strengthening is currently under contract negotiations and can be completed in 120 days.  The estimated construction cost of the strengthening is $4 million.  The FONSI for the runway extension was issued in June 2007.  The extension is a multi-phase project with the first phase of earthwork estimated to cost $2 million.  The second phase is the runway extension, which is estimated to cost an additional $2.5 million.  The engineering design for the first two phases is already underway.  The state would also like to widen the existing portion of the runway in 2010 and 2011.  The total cost for reconstruction, widening and strengthening the runway will be approximately $8.5 million. 

Belen – Construction of Crosswind Runway 13-31.  A second runway is needed to allow safer landings in cross-wind conditions.   The FONSI for this project was issued in September 2006.  This project will include the construction of Runway 13-31 to its initial length of 5,280 feet.  The first phase will cost approximately $4.6 million.  The second phase, which includes the construction of the Runway 13-31 parallel taxiway, will be approximately $3 million.  The city is anticipating the land acquisition to be completed by June 2009.  The engineering design is approximately 25 percent completed.