Federal Funding Case Studies > Concord, North Carolina

Concord, North Carolina

Issue Overview
In 1796 a disagreement between German and Scots-Irish settlers arose regarding where to house the county seat of the newly created Cabarrus County, North Carolina. To settle the disagreement between the two settlements, a 26-acre parcel of land was sectioned off and named Concord.  Today, the City of Concord is a bustling suburban community that encompasses 51 square miles and is home to over 55,000 residents.

Millions of tourist visit Concord every year to see NASCAR greats, such has Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., race to victory at Concord’s Motorsport Park and Lowes Motor Speedway. North Carolina's largest tourist attraction, Concord Mills, attracts over 17.6 million visitors to Concord per year.  While this expansion has been welcomed, the City of Concord has faced an uphill battle ensuring that the safety of its infrastructure.

Many visitors who come to Concord utilize the Concord Regional Airport, now the busiest general aviation airport in the State of North Carolina.  The airport, which is fully owned and operated by the City, also serves as a reliever airport to Charlotte-Douglas International Airport.  Concord Regional Airport officials quickly realized that the airport could not safely accommodate the growing number of flights into and out of Concord and undertook an ambitious, multi-million dollar plan to extend the airport runaway and corresponding infrastructure.

Strategy & Result
The Concord Regional Airport improvement project entailed construction of a 1,900 foot runway extension and parallel taxiway, moving and replacing navigational aides, increasing turn radius at each connection, grooving the runway, and adding by-pass taxiways.  All of these improvements were necessary to ensure the safety of pilots and passengers utilizing the Concord Regional Airport and needed to be completed in the near future in order to keep the airport in use.

The total cost to complete these necessary improvements was $16 million. While the City of Concord budgeted a portion of their local funds for this effort, they did not have enough money to fund the entire cost of the project. The City turned to the federal government for assistance. Through the congressional earmark process, the Concord Regional Airport was awarded $7.5 million for the runway extension project. Because of this funding, the airport was able to complete these necessary upgrades in 2007 and can now safely accommodate all flights into and out of the Concord Regional Airport.