ECTOR COUNTY, Texas — The Texas Department of Transportation works with communities all the time for road improvement.
Now, it's time for an Odessa project to take flight.
"We have an opportunity to get a grant from TxDOT," said Mike Gardner, Ector County Commissioner for Precinct 1.
In Tuesday's commissioners' meeting, Gardner discusses that the county received a $10 million grant for an asphalt project at Odessa Schlemeyer Field Airport.
"That is a matching grant, so the county has to match 10% of that, whatever that grant is, we have to match 10%," he said. "In this case it's about $10 million. So we do the 10%."
The county voted unanimously to put up $670,000 for this project. This investment will keep them from crashing into debt.
"That would be $10 million that that the county would have to spend out of our regular budget which is you know huge amount of money that I mean we couldn't afford to do that, if it wasn't for the grant," Gardner said.
Repairs will strictly focus on the approaches and tarmacs at Schlemeyer, taking the airport and county's economy to new heights.
"The financial end of it is self-explanatory," Gardner said. "You know it saves taxpayers several million dollars and it provides a service for people coming in. You know you want the airport, the aprons and all to be good for the planes to go on so you don't do damages to them. It's a good, good project to do that helps the people that are using the airport."
Only needing a few more approvals, the asphalt project will take off soon at Odessa Schlemeyer Airport.