Tri-Cities Airport (PSC) has secured more than $8.3m in federal funding for a deicing pad expansion that will let three aircraft be treated simultaneously during winter operations, with director Buck Taft calling it “another important investment in the future of Tri-Cities Airport.” The Pasco, Washington gateway confirmed the award on 18 September 2026, as first reported by Airport Improvement.
The work enlarges PSC’s existing deicing pad and adds two new taxiways, B1 and B2, plus deicing runoff infrastructure to manage the chemical fluid the expanded operation will generate. It also relocates FAA weather and navigation equipment, specifically the Stand Alone Weather Sensor and the Precision Approach Path Indicator, to clear space for the larger footprint. Bidding runs through the rest of 2026, with construction due to start in March 2027.
Where the $8.3m comes from
The funding is split across three federal Airport Improvement Program grants, one of them channelled through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The scope matters as much as the total: this is airfield civil works and utility relocation, not terminal or gate capacity.
| Grant | Amount | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| AIP design/construction grant | $5.3m | Deicing pad expansion, design and construction management |
| AIP infrastructure grant | $87,694 | Relocation of FAA power infrastructure for SAWS and PAPI |
| IIJA-funded AIP grant | $2.95m | Taxiways B1 and B2, expanded deicing runoff infrastructure |
Source: Tri-Cities Airport, via Airport Improvement, 18 September 2026.
Why it matters beyond PSC
A single-lane deicing pad is a known chokepoint at small and mid-size US airports: one aircraft at a time means queuing on the ramp in exactly the conditions that most need throughput. Tripling simultaneous deicing capacity is a direct efficiency and on-time performance fix, not a passenger amenity, and it is the kind of project other regional airports with growing carrier lists can lift wholesale for their own AIP applications.
PSC’s award sits inside a much larger pattern of federal grant activity this year, including the FAA’s $481m infrastructure grants round that gave Atlanta $100m of a 191-project pot. Airports weighing their own applications can also compare how mid-size hubs are staging capital spend against the $2bn capital plan Philadelphia has doubled its annual spend to fund, and against the wider list in this year’s roundup of the biggest airport capital programmes of 2026-27.
Airport Improvement notes the deicing project follows PSC’s terminal modernisation, new boarding bridges and the shift of Runway 12/30, all signs of a growth airport working through its AIP backlog systematically rather than reactively.
What to take from this
For airports in similar snow belts still running single-aircraft deicing pads, PSC’s grant structure is the template worth copying: separate the runoff infrastructure and FAA equipment relocation into their own line items, since that is exactly how this award was split and justified. Budget holders elsewhere should also note the IIJA component; that funding line is finite and worth chasing while it still exists.
