OKMULGEE, Okla. — Okmulgee city leaders broke ground on Aug 28 on a new terminal at Okmulgee Regional Airport, moving forward with a project officials said could have a major impact on the community.
While the day marked the beginning of construction, Mayor Mickey Baldwin said plans for a new terminal dated back more than three decades to 1991.
WATCH: Okmulgee breaks ground on new airport terminal decades in the making:
“Well, I think it’s like a coming home kind of feeling. I know we haven’t built it yet, but things are in the motion,” Baldwin said.
The project will cost just over $2.5 million. Funding included $602,775 in federal grant money from the Federal Aviation Administration, $950,000 in state grant funding and $950,000 in local funding.
Nick Young with the Oklahoma Department of Aerospace and Aeronautics said the groundbreaking represented the culmination of extensive work behind the scenes.
“Oh, it’s just excitement. This is the combination of a lot of days, weeks, months of planning, preparation, design, designing,” Young said.
The project also includes a new asphalt parking lot, sidewalks and ADA-accessible improvements, water and sewer service, electrical and gas service, parking lot lighting, drainage, pavement markings, signage and fencing.
Baldwin said construction was expected to take a little more than a year. He also believed the new terminal could help create opportunities for additional growth at the airport in the future.
“It’s just a progression. I’m hoping that it will even lead to commercial use as we move forward,” Baldwin said.
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