VERNON TOWNSHIP — A more than $1 million project at Port Meadville Airport takes off today as the Crawford County Regional Airport Authority dedicates 20 new T-shaped hangars and taxiways on the airport grounds.

The hangars replace 10 hangars that were more than 40 years old and will free up space in the airfield’s main hangar, according to Jack Lynch, airport manager, who said, “The old hangars literally were falling apart.”

The 20 new hangars are built in two interlocking blocks of 10. One set of 10 will be heated and the other block can be heated as well, Lynch said. The hangar blocks also are designed so an additional four hangars may be added to each block in the future.

“We have no doubt they’ll be full,” Lynch said of the 20 since 17 of them already are set to be rented.

Fred Teasdale, who has been a pilot since 1981, is looking forward to the new facility since he’s going to be renting one of the hangars. He lost a plane in a hangar at the airport May 2, 2007, when it was destroyed in a storm.

“It’s going to be wonderful,” he said. “I’ll be able to get another plane.”

The project was funded with a $500,000 capital grant from the Pennsylvania Bureau of Aviation, a $400,000 loan from the county and $100,000 in donations.

Construction of taxiways to allow planes access to the runway from the new hangar area was funded by a $138,000 grant from the state’s Bureau of Aviation, Lynch said.

The project also frees space in the main hangar building on the airport.

The approximately 100-by-75-foot building was a common hangar for eight planes.

Often planes had to be moved out of the hangar, a specific plane then brought out and the others put back when someone was going to fly, according to Lynch.

“Logistically it’s a good thing,” he said of the new hangars. “They were parked wing to wing with no margin for error.”

The new hangars will give the authority increased rental income with the new hangars renting for $185 per month, he said. Renters will be responsible for their own utilities.

Having the main hangar now open will allow the airport authority to potentially attract an on-field airplane maintenance business and allows the authority to do maintenance on its equipment indoors. It also gives the authority additional storage space, Lynch said.