PUEBLO — The Pueblo Memorial Airport has received a $9 Million grant from the FAA and CDOT to repair their main runway. The project is expected to cost $9,806,866, with the FAA providing 95% of the funding, while CODT and the City of Pueblo are splitting the remaining 5%.
"CDOT does what's called pavement condition monitoring, and with their help reports back to the FAA, who then determined our airport is in need of pavement rehabilitation," said Director of Aviation for the airport Greg Pedroza.
The airport says it's part of the Airport Improvement Program, meant to keep airports around the country in working condition.
"Specifically this grant is going to mill and overlay our primary runway. All of about 2 miles long of asphalt, 150 feet wide. It's going to give it a fresh face and new paint, including light fixtures and infrastructure for the lighting system," said Pedroza.
"I think it's great to have good runways," said visitor to the airport Patty Kilmer. "It's great for our planes, makes for a smooth flight, smooth landing".
The Pueblo Memorial Airport has one commercial airline, Southern Airways Express. Southern Airways has 24 flights per week to Denver and back, flying 9 passengers at a time.
"They're new, they've got some bugs, but we're very supportive of them, but we're really trying hard to help them out and get them to provide that reliable service," said Pedroza.
The project is expected to take 45 days to complete and will start construction in April of 2024. The airport says they will work on portions of the runway at a time to not disturb normal operations.
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