The Statesville Regional Airport will undergo lighting upgrades in January.

The city accepted nearly $700,000 worth of grants from the state for the installation of LED lighting and associated signs and visuals. Modernizing the lights will reduce the airport’s power bill approximately 50 percent, according to Airport Manager John Ferguson.

The N.C. Department of Transportation offered grants to the city for land acquisition, for taxiway rehabilitation and for PPAI, REIL and Windsock Replacement. Iredell County approved a 5 percent match of each grant.

LAND ACQUISITION GRANT: NCDOT agreed to reimburse the city for costs associated with the demolition project on Old Airport Road because grant funds were unavailable at the time of the project. The reimbursement will be for 90 percent of the expenditures, totaling $63,641.

TAXIWAY REHABILITATION GRANT: Bids for the lighting project were higher than the initial grant awarded, but NCDOT provided $121,500 to cover the overages. The local match of $13,500 will be split between the city and county evenly.

The project is estimated to take six months, Ferguson said.

The grant requires a local match of $57,000 between the city and the county.

PPAI, REIL AND WINDSOCK REPLACEMENT: The grant allocates $171,900 to the replacement of lighting systems used throughout the airport, with local funds contributed totaling $19,100. The city and county will split the match evenly.