Sea-Tac Airport Receives Additional $61.9 Million Funding for Runway

- Senator Patty Murray works on behalf of the Port of Seattle to gain additional funding -

Today, Sen. Patty Murray announced that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) responded to her request by granting an additional $61.9 million towards Seattle-Tacoma International Airport's third runway. The additional funding brings the total federal commitment to the project to $278.4 million. With these added funds, the third runway has received more federal funding than any other runway project in the country.

"We will never be able to thank Sen. Murray adequately for all she's done to ensure this project is built and delivered in a responsible way," said Port of Seattle Commission President Paige Miller. "She's done an extraordinary job of making our case in Washington, D.C. and for that we will always be grateful."

Additional funding was sought to help the Port of Seattle compensate for millions of dollars of added environmental mitigation costs associated with the project. Sea-Tac Airport is the only major airport project in the U.S. to have its federal commitment increased twice.

"We are grateful to Senator Murray for her tireless efforts to secure this additional funding for the third runway," said Port of Seattle CEO M. R. Dinsmore. "The money is clearly justified by the dollar expenditures required for environmental mitigation and Sen. Murray did a terrific job in making sure the right people heard our message."

Construction on the project is in full swing this summer; the runway is expected to open in late 2008.