DOT Awards $40.7 Million INFRA Grant to Lehigh Valley International Airport

Capitol Funding Solutions is pleased to announce that Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority was awarded $40,798,046 through the Department of Transportation’s Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) Grant Program. 

The Department of Transportation’s INFRA program funds infrastructure projects of national or regional significance to improve the safety, efficiency, and reliability of the movement of freight and people in and across rural and urban areas. The INFRA program is highly competitive due to the large volume of applicants. Despite a 50% increase in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, this round of funding was significantly oversubscribed. Of the 190 applications to the INFRA program, 28 projects were selected to receive funding in 2023.

Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority (LNAA) will use the awarded funding to construct a consolidated multimodal cargo facility at Lehigh Valley International Airport (ABE) with connectivity to the National Highway System. The facility will include a dedicated access road and intersection improvements, a cargo building, a direct truck to aircraft loading operations area, and stormwater infrastructure enhancements. It will redevelop and modernize existing infrastructure, creating a safe truck parking area as an alternative to the current practice of parking off-site in unauthorized nearby locations. Furthermore, it provides an alternative to the congested air cargo hubs in Philadelphia or New York/New Jersey. These improvements at ABE will serve express carriers by providing specialized facilities for time sensitive package processing and decreasing travel time from the existing cargo facility to the aircraft operations area by approximately 15 minutes. The project is also expected to create employment opportunities for nearby underserved communities, creating quality jobs locally.  

Read the DOT press release here.  

Learn more about the INFRA and MEGA programs. 

View the full list of INFRA awards and project descriptions here.