$40M makeover coming to terminal at Bush Airport
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Bush Intercontinental Airport will soon look a lot different. Photo: Rick Kern/Getty Images
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited Houston on Monday to celebrate the announcement of a $40 million federal grant for Bush Intercontinental Airport.
Driving the news: The funds will be used to renovate Terminal A, which hasn't seen much love since it was originally built in the 1970s.
- The changes are designed to streamline departures by upgrading security checkpoints, baggage systems and gates.
- The work also aims to make the terminal more energy efficient and modernize passenger loading and unloading.
- Few details were immediately available, including how soon construction could start.
The big picture: The grant is part of a program through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law specifically geared toward upgrading airport terminals.
- Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport also received funding.
- William P. Hobby Airport was also awarded $3.6 million for new gates and baggage system.
- More than 260 Texas projects have been granted funding under the infrastructure law so far, totaling roughly $8 billion flowing to the Lone Star State.
What they're saying: Mayor Sylvester Turner praised Buttigieg and President Joe Biden for the funding.
- "Many people will talk about what they plan to do, but Secretary Buttigieg and the rest of President Biden's administration can already be proud of what they have done," Turner said. "Houstonians are depending on them for more down the road."
Of note: Though it may have been wishful thinking, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D–Houston, printed a giant check to commemorate the occasion — with one small typo.
- Instead of $40 million in the amount lines, the check read $40 billion.