The Mississippi Department of Transportation has agreed to cover half of the city’s match on a $213,840 Federal Aviation Administration grant for improvements to the Vicksburg Municipal Airport.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen learned the state will pick up half the match at its Monday board meeting. The matching funds for the grant total $21,384, which means the state and the city will each pay $10,692.

Keafur Grimes of Barge Design Solutions, the project manager, said project contractor Metro Construction of Memphis, Tenn., has completed the project, which included work on the airport runway and at the fuel airport’s self-service fuel farm.

“The project was completed on Dec. 6 and the final inspection on Dec. 8,” Grimes said. “Right now, we’re working on the closing documents.” He said the project came in under its budget.

He said the project included the rehabilitation of the airport runway, adding, “We sealed all of the cracks and the joints in the runway and we also fixed the fuel apron, which had a lot of cracks and we resealed the joints and we also replaced one of the concrete panels that was broken up.”

Grimes said workers also picked up some steel from a hangar door that was causing problems for the pilots.

He said pilots were reluctant to go to the self-service fuel tanks because of the obstruction and the damaged apron.

“Removing those metal rods and fixing the ramp and shaping the pads, means now aircraft can go in and refuel after hours,” Grimes said.

He said the concrete panel was a 50-foot concrete slab. “It was broken up so bad that we replaced it,” he said.

He said other similar slabs could be replaced when the fuel taxiway is replaced and the terminal apron is repaired in 2024.