As fuel and asphalt prices figure to double the cost of improvements at Vicksburg Tallulah Regional Airport, chances of federal money to upgrade the facility remain good but delayed, officials said Thursday.

Delays in building a $1.8 million, lighted parallel taxiway to assist aviators using the airport at Mound stem from rising project costs at other airports, something that keeps the total amount of anticipated funds unknown, general manager Randy Woods said.

“Washington is the holdup right now,” Woods said. “Congress hasn’t funded FAA.”

Temporary funding was approved by President Bush in February, which enabled the agency’s authority to issue contracts, administer grants and provide subsidies for air carriers into small communities through June 30. Its last long-term reauthorization expired Sept. 30.

Woods said state-level managers inside FAA have assured him the government will kick in 95 percent of a grant eyed to pay for the taxiway and other improvements. The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development will provide the remaining 5 percent.

Built in 1983, VTR’s basic airport functions have been funded annually by subsidies from Vicksburg, Warren County, Tallulah and Madison Parish. Each has paid varying amounts, usually between $20,000 and $30,000.

Funding of the runway improvements and continued day-to-day local support are unrelated. However, grant agreements submitted to the four partners stipulate signatures are needed by June 24 or the grant offer will expire.

Officials in both states have voiced continued support for the facility in varying degrees.

Tallulah City Clerk Gerald Odom reiterated his town has a “keen interest” in maintaining the airport. Vicksburg Mayor Laurence Leyens has said the city’s lone interest is only to keep grant money flowing for large-scale improvements.

FAA rules have provided for capital improvement grants only for airports with long-term local support. The current pact expires in December.

In 2007, Vicksburg officials asked for joint quarterly meetings of each board and its appointed members of the airport’s advisory board. No such sessions have materialized. Also, FAA officials restored Vicksburg Municipal Airport on U.S. 61 South to the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems, a list of 3,300 airports nationwide eligible for federal grants. The city-owned airport was once marked for closure, but city fathers chose not to act on a 2002 ruling by the state Supreme Court allowing them to do so after vociferous opposition by industries which use it.

In April, Katrina-related grants totaling more than $1.3 million were awarded by the Mississippi Development Authority to build a fire station at VKS.