San Diego has received a nearly $6 million grant to improve the crumbling main runways at Brown Field Municipal Airport.
The $5.68 million grant from the FAA will fund the repairs and ensure the airport complies with current design standards, according to the City of San Diego.
The airport is in San Diego's Otay Mesa neighborhood, located 13 miles southeast of Downtown San Diego.
The funds will also be used to change the signage for the airport’s taxiways providing clarity for pilots and air traffic controllers.
"We are very pleased that we have been awarded funding to complete this important project and improve Brown Field and ensure the airport is run safely and efficiently," said Cybele Thompson, Director of the City's Real Estate Assets Department, in a statement. "With upgrades such as these, the City's airports will continue to operate as world-renowned general aviation transportation portals serving a world-class city."
The grant is part of the FAA’s Airport Improvement Program (AIP), which helps fund airport infrastructure projects across the United States to enhance safety, capacity, security and environment programs.
Construction is expected to start this fall and be completed in spring 2018.
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Once the rest of the runway is completed, it will accommodate any aircraft scheduled to use the airfield for the next 20 years.
In 2015, the City’s Airport Division received a grant from the FAA for $4.37 million, and a grant from Caltrans for $218,732, to reconstruct the eastern end of the same runway, according to the City of San Diego.
The runway was originally constructed in the 1950s by the U.S. Navy when Brownfield was a military base.
