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The Eastern Iowa Airport to embark on a multi-year, $10.7 million pavement and parking lot improvement plan

Cedar Rapids, IA: Starting this summer, The Eastern Iowa Airport will begin a much needed pavement and parking lot repair project. Last fall, the airport hired Foth Infrastructure & Environment, LLC to conduct a study of the landside vehicular pavement. The findings outlines a 5 year, $10.7 million plan to fix and preserve the pavement in the parking lots and airport roads.

“We have a significant amount of concrete in the public parking lot that is 30 years old,” said Tim Bradshaw, airport director. “With the amount of traffic and the extreme weather we see in Iowa, it is just beyond its useful life. Driving through the lot, it is obvious that the time has come to invest in the parking lot.”

The project will be a combination of pouring new concrete in those sections that need reconstructed, rehabilitating area that have more useful life, and preventative maintenance on the newer areas of the parking lot.

To cover the costs of the repairs, the airport will be increasing parking rates for the first time since 2001. Long term parking rates will increase from $5 a day to $6 a day and short term parking rates will increase from $7 to $9 a day.

“We took the matter of raising rates very seriously,” said Bradshaw. “We researched other airports in our region and what our costs would be to make the necessary repairs. We determined that this nominal increase will help offset our expenses and allow us to continue to provide the cheapest parking rates for airports in the region while not overburdening our guests.”

The increased rates are anticipated to raise an additional $815,000 per year. While owned by the city of Cedar Rapids, The Eastern Iowa Airport does not receive any property tax revenue. The airport derives its funding from airline revenues, terminal concessions, ground and facility leases, landing fees, ramp fees, parking revenue and farmland rental.

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