Dickinson airport to receive $1.7 million FAA grant

Jun. 13—DICKINSON — The Dickinson Theodore Roosevelt Regional Airport is set to receive new gear in order to keep snow off runways for next winter. The funding for this equipment comes via an FAA grant approved by the Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Committee. U.S. Sen. John Hoeven is a member of the committee and recently announced that the airport was awarded an Airport Improvement Program entitlement of $1,665,000.

"This grant will help ensure airports across North Dakota, including Dickinson's Theodore Roosevelt Regional Airport, are able to continue providing safe and reliable service," Hoeven said.

News of the grant is welcomed by Dickinson Theodore Roosevelt Regional Airport Manager Kelly Braun, who said they appreciated the support the grant will provide toward maintenance of its new infrastructure — including runways, taxiways and ramps.

"It will also give us the ability to look at some future options for commercial terminal development," Braun said Monday in a phone conversation with The Dickinson Press.

Braun said he's overseen an over 100% increase in the size of the runway and parallel taxiway, a construction project that will be completed in November this year and bring the airport into compliance with new guidelines by the FAA.

The two new pieces of snow removal equipment include an

MB5

truck — which includes a plow, broom and blower — as well as a high speed broom. The rest of the funding will be allocated toward a study to determine options for commercial terminal development to decide if the airport wants to make additions to the current terminal or build a brand new one in the future.

"The terminal study will help put together a strong case for acquiring those funds," Braun said of the study, noting that prior to the pandemic the Dickinson airport and North Dakota airports generally were on track to break previous records of passengers boarding aircraft.

"Dickinson and the entire state, we were on track to break some enplanement records or passenger boarding records. Then COVID happened. Everything kind of fell on its face and dropped to historic lows," Braun said. "But over the past year, enplanements have continued to increase to near pre-pandemic levels, which is encouraging."