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Designs revealed for new air traffic control tower at Ford Int'l Airport

Rendering of new air traffic control tower design at Ford Int'l
Gerald R. Ford International Airport
Rendering of new air traffic control tower design at Ford Int'l

Officials in Grand Rapids Monday unveiled plans for the long-awaited new air traffic control tower. Now they’re waiting on the federal government to fund it

It’s the first look at the new air traffic control tower being designed for the Gerald R. Ford International Airport – a tower area leaders have been working to get replaced for 34 years.

But it’s owned and operated by the Federal Aviation Administration.

“Businesses rely on us to be able to move people and packages efficiently around the world. However, we are facing some challenges as our air traffic control tower is more than 6 decades old making it the second oldest in the nation in the top 100 markets.”

Tory Richardson is the President and CEO of the Ford Airport Authority and says age is not the only concern.

“Design standards, security requirements, code obligations, environmental considerations and operations realities of 1963 are no longer appropriate for our facilities today.

The new tower would move across the airport campus to the east and include a base building for the FAA’s other area operations.

Congresswoman Hillary Scholten says they’ve been able to get the FAA to list the tower as number two on its priority list and the next step is to get them to commit to funding it in the next appropriations cycle.

“Put your money where your mouth is. And events like this really help us to be able to do that, to show we have the whole community behind us for this project. The state is putting up money. We’ve got the designs completed. We’re ready to go. We’re just waiting on the FAA.”

The project will likely cost the FAA $60 million and take three years to complete.

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