The expansion of Ankeny Regional Airport’s main runway is getting a lift with federal funding.
Local and state officials, including Republican U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn, announced Wednesday, Aug. 5, that Polk County Aviation Authority is receiving a $2.5 million Community Project Funding grant that’s part of transportation, housing and urban development appropriations in the 2026 fiscal year. The grant will help with a 500-foot extension of the airport’s Runway 18/36 that’s already been under construction.
The airport has received more than $24 million in investment over the past decade, said Jeff Wangsness, chairperson of Polk County Aviation Authority. That includes $11.7 million from the Federal Aviation Administration, more than $2 million from the Department of Transportation and $10.6 million from local taxpayers, Wangsness said.
But the FAA had declined to fund the runway extension project, he said. Nunn secured the Community Project Funding grant after it had previously been rejected in the prior budget cycle.
“A runway was not only justified, it was demanded,” Nunn said.
The extension will make the airport’s main runway 6,000 feet long, allowing the airport to serve bigger private jets. Corporate planes are about 40% of the airport’s users.
The airport will also continue to serve hobby pilots — 60% of its users — as well as the Iowa Air National Guard and Iowa State Patrol. The State Patrol stores planes at the airport, including one that’s partly been used for travel by Gov. Kim Reynolds and First Gentleman Kevin Reynolds.
Tiffany Tauschek, president and CEO of the Greater Des Moines Partnership, said funding for the runway extension was one of the Partnership’s top priorities on its federal legislative agenda.
Aaron Rickelman, chairperson of the Ankeny Area Chamber Board of Directors, said it’s exciting “to see a Washington decision affect our small town.”
Ankeny has become the state’s fifth-largest city after the results of a special census released in 2025, and Mayor Bobbi Bentz said the runway extension is an investment into the community’s future for attracting jobs and infrastructure.
Airport manager Dave Kalwishky previously told the Register in February construction on the runway extension would start in March and last through the end of November.
The most recent progress update through June expected paving, embankment and electrical work would continue in July, according to a Polk County Aviation Authority document.
The existing portion of the runway is also being repoured with new, thicker concrete to accommodate heavier planes.
Kalwishky said the total project for extension and renovation would cost $12 million, with two-thirds of that from federal funding.
He estimated Ankeny’s 19,000 take-offs and landings each year — about 50 to 60 per day — made the airport the third or fifth busiest in the state.
The airport’s development is continuing in other ways. Wangsness said the National Guard is finishing up construction of a hangar and the airport broke ground in the past month on a new maintenance building that will provide storage for snow removal and other equipment.
There is still an 80-person waitlist for hangar space, he said.
Phillip Sitter covers the suburbs for the Des Moines Register. Phillip can be reached via email at PSitter@usatodayco.com. Find out more about him online in the Register’s staff directory.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Ankeny Regional Airport runway extension gets federal funding boost
Reporting by Phillip Sitter, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Phillip Sitter, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
