New Bern’s Coastal Carolina Regional Airport (EWN) has received a sizable federal grant that will go towards its ongoing $26 million terminal expansion project.
Airport Director Andrew Shorter appeared before the Craven County Board of Commissioners on July 17 to request the county’s signature to accept a $5 million Federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Airport Terminal Program grant for the commercial terminal expansion project. The grant covers the construction of the terminal hold room and the passenger boarding bridges for gates one and three.
The board unanimously approved Shorter’s request.
The competitive national grant was awarded to only three airports in North Carolina — EWN, Charlotte Douglas International Airport and Asheville Regional Airport.
According to Shorter, the total cost for the terminal expansion project will be $26,144,266. He said additional funding will continue to be covered by annual FAA Airport Improvement Program grants, NC Airport Improvement Program state grant funding and a contribution from the airport’s operating fund
“Last year at this time we had the initial grant for this project which was $13 million, so this is an additional $5 million to go towards the total,” he told the board.
Shorter said he would likely be back before the commissioners in another 60-90 days for approval of the annual FAA grant, which will be approximately $4.5 million, bringing the total project fund to approximately $22 million.
Shorter said the remaining money for the project will come from matching funds the airport is required to provide as part of the grant programs. EWN will use its North Carolina Airport Improvement Program allocation to cover the matching costs, he told the board.
“It’s a little bit of a high-wire act as we signed that contract (for the project) last year for $26 million but we were confident that we would compete well for all these grants,” Shorter said. “So I think this is something that is just coming to fruition the way we planned it.”
Shorter said the expansion project, which is being handled by Monteith Construction out of Wilmington, is “on time, on budget,” with the steel structure currently going up for the new 10,000 square feet of the terminal that is being erected.
“If you’ve been in the terminal you’ll see a lot of construction going on as we have to move some mechanical, electrical and plumbing inside,” Shorter said. “So it really looks like we’re doing a lot there, which we are. We’re kind of changing the tire while we’re driving the car.”
Shorter said he expects the new terminal construction, which was scheduled as a two-year project, to be completed by next May, with a ribbon cutting to follow.
The terminal expansion grant highlights a flurry of recent changes at EWN over the last several months.
In July, the airport began offering six daily American Airlines flight options connecting through Charlotte to destinations around the world. The new flights came in addition to the EWN’s direct weekly summer service to and from Washington D.C. that began on June 3.
Last month, the Craven County Board of Commissioners approved a resolution authorizing the county to apply for just over a million dollars in state funding for the development of commercial aerospace at EWN.
According to Economic Development Director Jeff Wood, the grant funds would go towards building roadways, which would open up 90 acres that has been set aside in the airport’s 20-year plan to be utilized for aeronautical and aerospace based economic development.
By Todd Wetherington, co-editor. Send an email with questions or comments.