Palm Springs Airport Tower Construction Resumes With FAA Deal

The Senate majority leader announced an agreement Thursday to end a partial Federal Aviation Administration shutdown, which stalled construction of an air-traffic control tower at Palm Springs International Airport.

“I am pleased to announce that we have been able to broker a bipartisan compromise between the House and the Senate to put 74,000 transportation and construction workers back to work,” said Sen. Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat.

“This agreement does not resolve the important differences that still remain. But I believe we should keep Americans working while Congress settles its differences, and this agreement will do exactly that.”

The Coachella Valley’s congressional representative issued a statement saying she is confident work on the Palm Springs tower project will resume soon.

“This has been a top priority for me,” said Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R- Palm Desert, who said she spoke with House Speaker John Boehner to emphasize the project’s importance.

The Palm Springs airport’s executive director Tom Nolan, could not be immediately reached for comment. But he said last month that the project is 44 percent complete. Construction on the 150-foot tower, with a $24.5 million estimated total project cost, started about a year ago and will replace the current one directly adjacent to it, he said.

It is not clear when work will resume on the Palm Springs control tower, where special security clearances are required and some workers have left for other construction jobs.

Wrangling in Congress over taxpayer subsidies for small airports led to a cut-off in funding for construction of Palm Springs airport’s new tower. The project was one of many nationwide impacted by the FAA’s loss of revenue- raising authority, which began July 22 when Reid refused to allow a vote on a $2.5 billion appropriations bill, according to published reports.

The funding loss has meant furloughs for all but essential personnel — such as air traffic controllers — working on federally financed airport projects, including the $13 million tower in Palm Springs. The FAA issued work stoppage orders and put workers — including engineers and planners — on furlough beginning July 23.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood called Thursday’s announcement a “tremendous victory for American workers everywhere.”

“From construction workers to our FAA employees, they will have the security of knowing they are going to go back to work and get a paycheck, and that’s what we’ve been fighting for,” he said. “We have the best aviation system in the world and we intend to keep it that way.”

President Barack Obama said he was “pleased that leaders in Congress are working together to break the impasse involving the FAA so that tens of thousands of construction workers and others can go back to work.”