Cambridge-Dorchester Airport Meeting with County About FAA Funding

CAMBRIDGE, Md. – The Cambridge Dorchester Regional Airport is set to meet with the county about an FAA Grant. One that would help with a maintaining a crucial aspect of any airport of any size.

Assistant Airport Manager Snap Johnson met with us to talk about the need for Cambridge-Dorchester Regional to resurface their runway.

Johnson says, “We’re starting to get a little humps. And every now and then you see cracks that the water gets down there doing. It kind of pops them up. So that’s kind of dangerous for the aircraft. There’s another second bump when they take off or land.”

The grant in question is part of the FAA’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which goes towards improving airport safety, among other upgrades.

We met with Steve Nuwer, the Director of Cambridge-Dorchester Regional about why they need to resurface the runway sooner than later.

“The airport is planning and has been planning for a number of years to resurface the runway. The runway right now is 25 years old. They have a life expectancy of 20 years. So we’ve actually extended that through some maintenance programs. And in preparation for resurfacing the runway, there are multiple steps you need to go through to prepare for that,” says Nuwer.

And Steve says that the IIJA grant would cover most of the cost to maintain the airport.

He tells us, “It’s all safety related. Cambridge is a very, very nice facility and we want to keep it that way. We work very hard to keep it that way. Again, the the funds that are being provided through the IG fund, 95% of the cost, so only 5% is on the county. It helps us keep the facility very nice and safe.”

The decision on the IIJA Grant will take place at Tuesday night’s Dorchester County Council meeting.