U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg praises Eastern Iowa Airport's $20 million modernization

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg spent Thursday morning at the Eastern Iowa Airport, touring and observing a federally-funded $20 million expansion project meant to modernize the facility.

Buttigieg was quick to credit the airport's progressive initiative.

“Cedar Rapids is a place that saw the importance and the potential of the Eastern Iowa Airport years ago and began investing in it then,” he said to a crowd of more than 80 people that included Iowa City Mayor Bruce Teague, Coralville Mayor Meghann Foster, Sen. Janice Weiner and other elected officials.

Last July, the Federal Aviation Administration announced it would award $20,415,727 in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding to the Eastern Iowa Airport.

The funding will be used to modernize the local terminals by adding four additional passenger gates.

The project is set to complete in early 2025, Marty Lenns, Eastern Iowa Airport director, told the Press-Citizen. Buttigieg voiced his support of the local efforts and believes the government should continue to aid the project financially.

“The whole idea of this funding is that the visions, the projects, the plans, the design, the engineering, the answers aren’t going to come out of Washington, but more of the funding should,” Buttigieg said.

Eastern Iowa Airport's federal funding supports economic growth, passenger experience

The Wright brothers, widely created with inventing the airplane, were once residents of Cedar Rapids in their younger years, highlighting a lengthy aviation history, Cedar Rapids Mayor Tiffany O'Donnell said.

She discussed the continued growth of Cedar Rapids and how the economic strength of the city relies on the Eastern Iowa Airport.

Buttigieg complimented the Eastern Iowa Airport's ability to secure a competitive grant.

He believes the airport's modernization initiative reflects their varying needs, including economic growth and a better passenger experience − specifically improvements to the concourse and security lines. Buttigieg is “eager” to emphasize places that are preparing for more “volume.”

The terminal modernization program began in 2014.

The first phase was completed the following year and focused on the front roadway, sidewalks and the front facia of the terminal, the Press-Citizen reported. The second phase included rental car counters, airline ticket counters, baggage claim and HVAC systems while phase three expanded the security screening checkpoint, added more seating in the concourse and expanded on concessions.

The benefits of the expansion include an increase in passenger capacity, an improvement in accessibility and an improvement in energy efficiency, according to an FAA news release.

The funding is provided by the Airport Terminals Program, an aviation program created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Buttigieg said not only will the modernization provide good paying, union jobs, but jobs in manufacturing, agriculture and tourism are created and sustained because of transportation.

Buttigieg, who grew up in South Bend, Indiana, said success largely meant leaving town.

“We’re seeing people come home for a lot more than that,” he said. “We’re seeing people choose and move to these locations in the Midwest that are seeing their potential realized as never before and that’s something that we are proud to help make possible through these infrastructure investments.”

Pete Buttigieg is asked about anti-LGBTQ legislation and concerns over a default in the White House

Iowa's recent anti-LGBTQ legislation was a topic of conservation Thursday morning as well.

In Iowa, bills were passed that “prohibit instruction about gender identity and sexual orientation in kindergarten through sixth grade” and “prohibit transgender youth from using school restrooms that align with their gender identity,” the Des Moines Register reported.

Buttigieg said the bills shed light on how many elected leaders must shift their priorities.

“Here we are in Cedar Rapids working on making life a little easier for airline passengers and they’re over there in Des Moines working on making life a little harder for LGBTQ high schoolers,” he said.

“Of all the things you could do with the power and the trust and the resources that are put in your hands as an elected official, why wouldn’t you be concentrating more on building roads and bridges and fixing up airports and making insulin more affordable and helping veterans and all the other things that were doing as an administration," he said.

A default must be prevented, Buttigieg added when asked what concerned him.

The U.S. has never defaulted on its debts, and if it did, it would throw “both domestic and global economies into chaos,” USA TODAY reported. Debt ceiling negotiations have continued to take place as June approaches, a time in which Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen assessed that, “the odds of reaching June 15, while being able to pay all of our bills, is quite low.”

“A default would create just unacceptable and even unthinkable consequences for our economy, which of course would affect the transportation sector as it would affect everything else,” Buttigieg said.

Paris Barraza covers entertainment, lifestyle and arts at the Iowa City Press-Citizen. Reach her at PBarraza@press-citizen.com or 319-519-9731. Follow her on Twitter @ParisBarraza.

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg tours Eastern Iowa Airport