$8 million grant for Knoxville Downtown Island Airport
August 27, 2021

NASHVILLE - Senate Transportation and Safety Committee Chairman Becky Massey (R-Knoxville) said today that the Knoxville Downtown Island Airport will receive an $8 million state grant to fund improvements. The money came from funds allocated in the 2021-2022 state budget passed by the General Assembly and signed into law by Governor Bill Lee in May.

“This is a sizable grant to help make improvements to this airport,” said Senator Massey. “Our airports are very important economic assets to our communities and I appreciate all the work done by our local officials in helping to secure these funds. I was pleased to support their application.”

Funds were transferred from the current state budget into Tennessee’s Transportation Equity Fund (TEF) to award grants to airports which meet certain criteria. The criteria for selection included pavement condition, pavement use, number of annuals operations, number of based aircraft, predicted pavement repair or treatment, and geographic location within Tennessee. The Knoxville Downtown Island Airport grant will be used for pavement improvements associated with Runway 8-26 and the parallel taxiway, including ancillary costs.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) will be working with the Airport Authority to work out further details for the improvement project.