The Meridian Regional Airport’s terminal building parking lot will soon get a makeover, thanks to a multimodal project grant from the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

The Mississippi Transportation Commission recently approved a $137,000 grant for the project, which is set to begin in about 30 days.

“It will take us a month to get organized, get pricing and get ready to go,” said Meridian Airport Authority president Tom Williams, who anticipates a December completion date. “These things kind of take a timeline of their own… We’ll start on all of it and just let it happen as it goes.”

The project will include upgrading the lights in the parking lot with LED lighting, repaving a section of the lot and sealing another section. The entire 200-space parking lot will also be re-striped.

Williams said the work will be done in phases to keep enough parking spaces available. Each phase should take approximately two weeks.

“We think we can do it in three or four phases,” Williams said. “We will have to get pricing and go with the lowest and best proposal… We’ll probably divide it into multiple contracts for striping, asphalt and lighting.”

The grant is a 75/25 matching grant, so the airport will pay the difference for the project, which is estimated to cost just more than $150,000. These grants are funded by the Multimodal Transportation Improvement Fund.

MDOT grants were awarded to multiple regional and municipal airports, ports and public transit systems in central Mississippi, according to an MDOT press release.

“MDOT’s responsibilities include maintaining and improving the state’s highways and interstates, but also focuses on providing a safe intermodal transportation network for airports, ports and waterways, railroads and public transit,” Mississippi Transportation Commissioner Dick Hall said in a statement. “Each of these modes of transportation play a vital role in transporting people, goods and services that promote economic growth and development throughout Mississippi.”

Other facilities receiving funding include:

• $358,019 – Cleveland Municipal Airport: Install new aircraft fuel tanks at the Cleveland Municipal Airport.

• $413,125 – Greenville Mid-Delta Airport: Rehabilitate the potable water system (Phase 1) at the Greenville Mid-Delta Airport.

• $156,572 – John Bell Williams Airport, Raymond: Construct a T-hangar taxiway at the John Bell Williams Airport.

The Meridian parking lot upgrade follows an announcement in June that the airport would receive $563,097 in federal money for equipment acquisition, runway safety improvements, airfield guidance sign installation and taxiway rehabilitation. That money is part of 42 grants totaling more than $7.54 million for infrastructure and safety improvements at local airports throughout the state.