By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
United States Sen. Roy Blunt is hopeful the federal government will continue to put money into improvements at the Air National Guard 139th Airlift Group.
Blunt says replacement of the aging Air Traffic Control Tower at Rosecrans Memorial Airport will dovetail nicely with construction of the new 139th headquarters in the northern part of Rosecrans.
“It’s kind of a combination of a city project and a base project, but certainly the work done here and the training done here have been important for a long time,” Blunt tells reporters during a recent visit to Rosecrans.
It is estimated building a new air traffic control tower along with a new terminal building and another building to house snow removal equipment will cost $15 million. The current complex was built in 1951 at Rosecrans. The state is moving to set aside $2.5 million toward the project. The city is lobbying Congress for federal money to complete the improvements.
Whether the federal government chips in some money has yet to be determined.
“Well, we’ll see,” Blunt says. “I think the state has pitched in some money and I’ll talk to Congressman Graves, who I believe will be the chairman of the (House) Transportation Committee in the next Congress and see what we need to do now for planning money and other things and move forward on that.”
Blunt is hopeful Republicans will regain control of the U.S. House, making it likely that Graves, his fellow Republican, will become the new committee chair. Graves now serves as the ranking minority member.
Blunt says a new air traffic control tower and other improvements at Rosecrans will fit nicely with the new headquarters being built at Rosecrans for the 139th Airlift Group. New buildings have been going up in the northern part of Rosecrans as the 139th slowly, but surely moves to higher ground, ground that didn’t flood in the disastrous 1993 Flood.