The Springfield-Branson National Airport is among the awardees sharing in the third $1 billion installment from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
The Federal Aviation Administration has selected the Springfield airport for a $5.4 million grant to replace jet bridges, the enclosed passageway between the terminal and airplanes.
The grant is estimated to cover about 90% of the cost to replace 5 of the airport’s 10 passenger boarding bridges. The bridges being replaced are about 30-years-old and have become “high maintenance items,” according to Kent Boyd, public information and marketing manager for the airport. If everything goes according to plan, Boyd said the new bridges should be installed by July 2025.
“This is a huge deal for us,” Director of Aviation Brian Weiler said at the Feb. 15 Airport Board meeting.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, passed in 2021, allocated $5 billion — to be dispersed in $1 billion increments between 2022-2026 — for airport terminal development projects across the country.
The Kirksville Regional Airport in Kirksville, Mo., is also among the latest round of awardees, selected for $3.2 million to construct a new 6,500 square foot terminal. Missouri airports in Clinton, Lee’s Summit, St. Joseph, Fort Leonard Wood and Hannibal have been awarded funding in previous allocations.
Airport Board approves parking garage feasibility study
Also at the Feb. 15 meeting, the Airport Board tasked engineering firms Walker Consultants and Crawford, Murphy & Tilly to perform a parking feasibility study, setting the stage for the design and construction of a parking garage. The study was added to the agreement the airport already has with the engineers for $98,479.
The Springfield airport enjoyed its busiest year ever in 2023 with nearly 1.3 million passengers. The first task of the study will be to update the Airport Master Plan’s passenger demand outlook, which has continually been exceeded.
As the number of passengers has increased, so has the demand for parking spaces. The airport’s surface parking lots have been expanded on multiple occasions (to about 2,600 spaces), but parking is “growing to capacity.”
“We need to be forward thinking on this, and I hesitate to say forward thinking because I almost feel like we're a little bit behind on it,” Assistant Director of Aviation Dave Schaumburg said.
The study will also include an update to parking program requirements to begin planning for a parking garage itself — which involves selecting a site for the structure, considers how to fund it and what project delivery method to use.
Schaumburg said the feasibility study will take about six months to complete. Once in hand, airport officials will use the data to determine how to move forward with the design of a parking garage, which could take over a year.
“I don't know that we jump right into construction, but there are a lot of factors in play with what funding is available, what the economics are, if interest rates look good…If the data shows we need to jump into design on the parking garage, I would say we probably want to get that design on the shelf, and be ready to move when it makes sense,” Schaumburg said.
According to the airport master plan, the garage could add between 1,000 and 1,500 parking spaces to the airport grounds and would likely incorporate space for rental car companies on the ground level. Weiler estimates the construction of a parking garage to cost anywhere from $40 million to $60 million, and said it would likely require the issuance of bonds, which would require approval from the Springfield City Council.
A parking garage is among a host of potential projects in the airport's 20-year master plan.
