Grants Allow City to Finish Lambert Field

December 5, 2003

Grants Allow City to Finish Airport
St. Louis Post Dispatch, MO 


In case there was any confusion, Mayor Francis Slay wanted to be doubly clear 
when announcing that Lambert Field will receive $85 million in federal grants 
for the airport expansion. 

"These grants will allow us to complete the airport expansion program," he told 
a group of reporters Friday at City Hall. "I'll repeat that: These funds will 
allow us to complete the airport expansion program." 

The Federal Aviation Administration has made a $50 million commitment, a $10 
million advance of the $140 million awarded to Lambert in 1999, and another $25 
million to buy homes and property in the new runway's path. 

In August, Lambert Director Leonard L. Griggs Jr. requested from the FAA $100 
million to finish the expansion. 
 
Griggs requested the money after American Airlines announced it would cut in 
half its St. Louis schedule and rely mostly on smaller, regional planes that 
generate less airport fees. 

Griggs said Friday that the runway project now "is on target, it is on track. 
It's raining, it's snowing out there today, but we're going to open this runway 
in 2006." 

Rep. William Lacy Clay Jr., D-Mo., said the FAA's pledge has a symbolic value 
after the hit the airline industry took after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. 

The federal commitment to the project is "not only an investment in our future, 
it is a message that we will not allow terrorism to destroy our future," Clay 
said. 

The airport recently added 30 flights, and officials expect to announce more 
flights soon, Slay said. 

An airport task force also is examining ways to attract more business at the 
airport, and the committee should have suggestions by next month, Slay said. 


 Do you have an opinion about this story?
Share it with other readers in our CAA Discussion Forums

http://www.californiaaviation.org/dc/dcboard.php

*****************************************