Hillsdale Received $1 Million Grant for Airport Taxiway Project

HILLSDALE — "It's a million dollar day."

Ginger Moore, the manager of Hillsdale's Airport, informed the Hillsdale City Council March 2 the airport was awarded $1 million in supplemental discretionary funding from the Federal Aviation Administration for the airport's parallel taxiway phase II project.

John Mayfield, the manager of the FAA Detroit Airport District Office, acknowledged Moore and the city airport Feb. 19 at the Michigan Association of Airport Executives Conference in Lansing.

Moore has spent the last year building a relationship with Mayfield after meeting him at the same conference in 2019.

In March 2019, Mayfield visited the Hillsdale Airport and spent time with Moore, City Manager David Mackie and Nick Patterson, the city's engineer consultant.

"He was very impressed with our airport and ever since that day in March (2019), I have been corresponding and sending him photos of our events," Moore said. "That correspondence paid off this year when we met with John and he said that we would be awarded the (funding)."

The estimate for the project — to build a full length parallel taxiway — is $1.2 million.

The Michigan Department of Transportation is responsible for a five-percent match as well as the city of Hillsdale, which equates to $60,000, Moore said.

The funds for the city's match will come from an airport fund the city maintains for airport needs that are generated from fuel sales, Moore said.

"It's important that the public knows this money comes from aviation taxes and cannot be used for the roads," Moore said. "We are very grateful that we were chosen for this generous grant. This helps our airport improvement program move along at a faster pace."

The parallel taxiway is on the airport's layout plan, which is planned out in three segments.

The first segment was completed in 2015.

"This next segment will be from the run-up area of runway 28 and come down to the t-hangars," Moore said. "The third segment (in the future) will complete the entire taxiway. This will allow the smaller aircraft to taxi off of the runway."

Moore said that taxiways are a safer option to separate ground traffic from airborne traffic.

The airport has been approved to begin the design of the taxiway this year and construction will begin sometime in 2021, Moore said. Bids for the project will go out in the fall, Moore said.

Once construction begins, completion will take a few months and it will not interfere with current airport operations.

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