COBLE ANNOUNCES ADDITIONAL PTI FUNDS

The Piedmont Triad International Airport (PTI) will be receiving even more federal funding than the $8 million U.S. Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC) announced earlier this week. Congressman Coble said the funding will be used to construct the parallel runway and taxiways that will serve the airport’s growth needs and the planned FedEx cargo hub scheduled for 2009.

Congressman Coble said today that in addition to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) $8 million grant he announced on Monday toward the construction costs of a parallel runway and related taxiways, the 6th District representative said he has been informed that DOT has approved another $4.2 million in entitlement funds.

Rep. Coble, a senior member of the House Transportation committee, said the $12.2 million will be applied to the total cost of the parallel runway, which is currently set at $108 million and is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2009. “The $8 million is coming from DOT discretionary funds,” Rep. Coble noted, “while this $4.2 million grant comes from entitlement funds and distribution is based on the number of passengers and amount of freight coming through PTI. I am pleased that DOT has approved both of these requests.”

Airport officials say one taxiway will be constructed between the two runways and another will be extended to connect to the expected FedEx distribution hub planned for PTI. The actual amount of today’s grant is $4,237,916.00