El Paso Airport is Getting an Upgrade

At least I HOPE this means the airport gets some upgrades.

The Federal Aviation Administration has awarded two grants to El Paso International, totaling almost $28 million.

Suppose you’ve got some improvements in mind for the airport, it's too late! All the grant money has already been allocated for two big projects.

A new project to simplify the taxiway intersections, according to KTSM 9, “to enhance both safety and efficiency”.  The lion’s share of the grants will go to this Five Node Intersection Remediation Project. That project alone will eat up 27 of the nearly 28 million dollars in grants.

The remaining 800 thousand and change will go to the Terminal Roof Resilience Project Phase 2.

That’s it. All the money’s already spoken for.

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However…IF we have any leftover, I have a suggestion.  I was just at Houston Hobby Airport and they’ve got phone charging outlets under almost every seat at almost every gate. That seems like a worthwhile upgrade. What’s the most it could possibly cost? 100K? 200, maybe?

It would be worth it because I noticed something while traveling by air for the first time in a few years: people just want to be on their phones. That’s it. You could cancel their flight and, as long as they have their phones and a place to charge them.

El Paso Int’l has a bank of cell phone charging ports next to baggage claim. They’ve seen better days. I was a little worried I might get a shock plugging into those Obama-era charging ports.

Also, free Wi-Fi without having to go through some kind of portal would be great.