Letter to Hon. Stephen Dickson, Administrator of the FAA - PEORIA: Bustos, Durbin, Duckworth & LaHood Urge FAA to Prioritize Funding to Replace Air Traffic Control Tower at Peoria International Airport

Letter

Dear Administrator Dickson,

The historic, bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) (Pub.L. 117-58), recently signed into law by President Biden, provides much needed and long overdue investments in our nation's infrastructure, including increased funding for airports. We write to highlight a provision in the law that allows federal funds to be used to improve or replace airport-owned air traffic control (ATC) towers and urge the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to utilize this new authority to prioritize funding for the replacement of the outdated ATC tower at Peoria International Airport in Peoria, Illinois.

Title VII of the IIJA provides the FAA with $5 billion for the Airport Terminal Program to "provide competitive grants for airport terminal development projects that address the aging infrastructure of the nation's airports." This provision also specifically directs that "in awarding grants for terminal development projects from funds made available under this heading in this Act, the Secretary may consider… projects for relocating, reconstructing, repairing, or improving an airport-owned air traffic control tower[.]"

As the FAA implements this new program and awards funding to projects at our nation's airports, we urge you to follow the congressional intent of this provision and fund projects seeking to improve and replace airport-owned ATC towers. For years, airports that own their towers, such as the Peoria International Airport, have struggled with upkeep of crumbling towers while being unable to locate eligible sources of funding for tower replacement. These aging towers can pose safety and health issues and are often incapable of housing modern technology or meeting modern building codes. Utilizing the Airport Terminal Program to fund the replacement of these towers provides a unique opportunity to clear this backlog and ensure that our air traffic controllers are given the tools to provide for the safe movement of people and goods across our airspace.

We look forward to working with the FAA on the implementation of the IIJA's Airport Terminal Program and thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,