The Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids has announced a $90 million dollar expansion. It’s called Project Elevate. It's a three part project that aims to make more flights available to the public.
The first step will add eight gates to concourse A. Dan Koorndyk chairs the airport’s authority board.
"It's also going to change the skyline of what our airport looks like now with eight additional gates, we're basically doubling the size of concourse A, adding that federal inspection station," he says. "And the other part would be a new air traffic control tower."
Officials say the project will help with expected growth. Koorndyk says this year alone passenger numbers are up over 11 percent. He says, "We have so much business that we have planes that we cannot park at gates overnight. And we need to plan for the future growth of our airport and handle the current growth of our airport."
Funding for the project comes from bonds, government grants and passenger fees. Officials say construction is set to begin in the spring of 2020.
