Kevin Foley, the executive director of the Des Moines International Airport, let out a sigh of relief as he sat down to discuss the future of the airport expansion project on Wednesday.

The Business Record met with Foley hours after Polk County voters overwhelmingly approved a $350 million bond issue to help fund the first phase of construction of a new terminal the day before. The measure passed with nearly 80% approval, far surpassing the 60% threshold needed for passage.

Foley said while airport staff were celebrating another step forward for the project, the respite will be short because there is a lot of work to be done.

“For five years we’ve been at this, educating and getting out in front of people … today we will catch our breath and celebrate, and tomorrow we now have additional work to do,” he said. “This has given us the real possibility of completing at least part of the second phase: adding additional gates beyond the six that are in the first phase. It would save money. The construction team would just keep on going. There’s no stop and start, and this has given us the opportunity to at least explore whether that’s viable.”

The voters’ approval in Tuesday’s election also gives the airport much-needed leverage to seek additional state and federal dollars for the project, he said.

“It absolutely allows us to give a sigh of relief, but it also gives us additional information to go to other government entities and say, ‘Look at the support we have from our community,’” Foley said. “They’ve stepped up with local dollars. An 80% vote, albeit from just one county, adds additional ammunition for us to go to additional government entities, specifically federal and state, and say, ‘Hey, look, we’ve got all the support in the world. Your constituents are saying this has to get done.’”

As Foley spoke, construction continued on the $50 million expansion of the airport’s parking garage. Work continued where the new terminal will be built. Ground work is ongoing. A hole is dug, and utilities are going in ahead of a foundation being laid. Steel is expected to begin going up next spring and summer.

In addition to the continued construction, Foley said several steps need to be taken to secure the funding that voters approved.

Those steps include entering into an agreement with the Polk County Board of Supervisors, conducting financial analysis, and then the county going to the bond market next summer.

In a news release following the vote, airport officials said the county’s better bond rating will mean a cost savings for the airport, positioning it to be more competitive in attracting airlines to add service, and allow for further expansion as needed.

Foley said the general obligation bonds the county will use carry a lower interest rate than general aviation revenue bonds the airport could have used, resulting in less interest paid over the life of the bond.

As part of the project, the airport has converted some automobile parking on the south side of the terminal to overnight aircraft parking.

“We’re doing that because we’re out of room to park airplanes around the gate at night, so there will be six parking places opening up for aircraft there,” he said.

Design on plans to move rental-car operations to the south side of the airfield is also finishing up, he said.

It’s all part of the $570 million airport improvement project, including the approximately $445 million cost of phase one of a new terminal. Other elements of the project include the 1,100- space expansion of the parking garage, which is scheduled to be complete in spring 2025.

The parking garage expansion is funded by federal American Rescue Plan Act funds. The project also includes the realignment of the airport’s entrance road to the terminal.

The airport has struggled with capacity to handle increased air travel, which hit record levels in Des Moines in 2019. Officials say a new terminal and related improvements are an integral component to continuing the economic development momentum the region has seen in recent years.

A report last fall from the Iowa Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Aviation showed that the Des Moines airport generates about $752 million a year in economic activity for the state.

Phase one of the terminal project addresses what Foley described as congestion points, including passenger screening, luggage screening for checked bags, ticket counters, baggage claim, a new restaurant, a new gift area and six new gates, bringing the total number of gates to 18.

“More importantly than just that it’s six gates, it’s a wide open space, so there is no restriction between the gates,” Foley said. “If you look at existing concourses, we have walls and those areas are very defined. When those areas fill up, it’s difficult to flow into new areas. In this design, if a gate area is getting full, it just keeps flowing into other areas. But everything is very visible. You’ll know when boarding starts. You could almost be anywhere in this new terminal and see your gate.”

He said when a gate begins boarding, a light will turn green to alert passengers.

The airport had $235 million in funding for the project. That includes a mix of state funding, federal Airport Improvement Program funds and money from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The airport has also reached agreement with 20 regional communities with commitments for $28.6 million. Prairie Meadows has also committed $5 million to the project, Foley said.

If funding is available after the first phase is complete, the second phase and the addition of three more gates would begin immediately.

Another two gates could be added, but they would be expensive and the last to go in because they would require a retaining wall to be built along Fleur Drive, Foley said.

Completion of the first phase of the new terminal is planned for fall of 2026. Once the move into the new terminal is complete, demolition of the existing terminal will begin.

“The next three years, there’s just going to be a lot of activity going on out here,” Foley said.

According to Foley, the successful outcome of Tuesday’s vote was the culmination of a hectic period preparing for the election.

“The idea of having a government bond on our behalf to save interest really only came about 90 days ago,” Foley said. “We went to the county, and they said they would consider it. It took some time for them to pass a resolution to allow the referendum to be put on the ballot, so now we were down to 60 days, and we had a serious discussion whether we could pull this off in 60 days or not.

“We’re awfully close, we haven’t been out in front of it,” he said. “We thought we could. We felt that it was a positive enough move that people would understand and clearly they did, but it has been a pretty hectic 90 days here.”