New Palm Springs Airport Tower Gets Funding

WASHINGTON -- The federal government will provide $2.3 million to the Palm Springs International Airport to start building a new control tower, which could make the airport safer and aid future expansion.

Airport officials have complained that the nearly 40-year-old tower sits in a gulch that makes it hard for air traffic controllers to see the ends of the runway. Rep. Mary Bono, R-Palm Springs, obtained $2.3 million in the transportation spending bill that passed Friday and could lead to building a taller control tower within five years.

"This is a huge step," said Richard Walsh, the airport's director of aviation. "I am so enthusiastic about this."

The money appropriated to the Federal Aviation Administration starts the construction process. The airport reported a higher level of runway incursions -- events that pose collision hazards -- than most other airports in the past few years, although no one is calling the airport unsafe.

Airport officials whittled down the price of building a taller tower from a rough guess of about $30 million to $19 million in the past few months, Walsh said. His office rushed to get information to Bono in hopes of getting some money in next year's budget bills, which are usually passed in late summer and fall.

"Her office worked diligently to get us into the next possible cycle," Walsh said.

This initial funding should lead to a new tower being completed in the next three to five years, Bono said. Getting initial federal funding for any project makes it easier to gain additional money later, she said.

"Clearly this has the backing the Appropriations Committee," Bono said. "There's no question that having Chairman (Jerry) Lewis of the Appropriations Committee as our neighbor is a good thing."

Lewis, R-Redlands, chairs the Appropriations Committee and oversees spending bills for all government agencies including the Defense, Interior and Transportation departments.

Walsh said building a tower has been a priority since he started his job nearly two years ago.

"This money is going to be well invested," he said.

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Contact Doug Abrahms at dabrahms(AT)gns.gannett.com

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