Hubbard helps secure matching funds for airport

Auburn University will leverage a $100,000 grant secured through the efforts of Rep. Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, to help fund more than $4 million in improvements at the AU-owned Auburn-Opelika Robert G. Pitts Airport.

The funds will help pay for paving projects associated with a total refurbishing of the airport facility, said airport Director Bill Hutto.

According to Hutto, the $100,000 grant Hubbard helped AU secure from the Alabama Public School and College Authority will provide a large portion of the state-funding match for grants from the Federal Aviation Administration, which will fund up to 95 percent of the costs of the project.

"We plan to use these funds to relocate a section of the existing north-south taxiway, build a new ramp and taxiway and construct an access road and parking lot for a new terminal on the east side of the airport," Hutto said. "All of this is part of a project that will eventually result in a vastly improved airport for the university and the Auburn-Opelika area.

"We appreciate Rep. Hubbard's help in securing these funds so that we can begin to move forward on these long-overdue improvements. He has always been a friend of the university and I think he realizes the importance of the airport as the doorway to the community."

Hubbard said the refurbished airport should prove a "catalyst for economic development" in the area.

"I was real pleased to be able to secure these funds for this particular project," Hubbard said. "I'm a big believer in any catalyst for economic development in the area and there is no doubt that we are woefully behind the times with regard to our airport facility. This is important for our community and hopefully these funds will allow us to get a head start on a tremendous project."

Hubbard also credited Gov. Bob Riley and his administration for their help in securing the grant.

"Gov. Riley is a pilot and used to run an airport, so he's very knowledgeable about what an outstanding airport facility can mean to a community," Hubbard said. "The people of the Auburn-Opelika area owe him thanks, too, for helping out with this project."

When the airport project is completed, Hutto said, it will include a new terminal, two new hangars and a new flight education facility for the College of Business' Department of Aviation Management and Logistics.

"When the entire airport project is complete, the area will have a much more attractive welcoming point for those visitors who come through the airport," Hutto said. "I think everyone involved will be extremely pleased with the end result."