City officials plan to apply for a Federal Aviation Administration Grant to assess and repair drainage problems at the Vicksburg Municipal Airport.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved filing a pre-application for the grant, which will cover 90 percent, or $299,970 of the project’s $333,000 cost with the city and the Mississippi Department of Transportation splitting the remaining 10 percent, or $16,665 each.

Public Works Director Garnet Van Norman said the work is overdue

“The airport was built in the 40s,” he said. “It’s got old (storm drain) pipes running from all kinds of drainage basins there’s three or four pipes that go under the runway itself and it needs to looked at and fixed.

“It needed to be fixed years ago, and they didn’t. Now they’re looking at how to assess it and try to fix it. It needs to be addressed. It’s several different catch basins around there that probably haven’t been taken care of over the last 70 years.”

Other than when floodwaters from the 2011 spring Mississippi River flood covered the airport’s south runway, Van Norman said he cannot recall the airport runway being flooded because of runoff from storms.