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Members of North Carolina’s congressional delegation sent a letter Thursday to the head of the Federal Aviation Administration asking the agency to speed up allocating funds for a new control tower at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.

The FAA is planning to open the new tower – which will be much taller and able to see all of the airport’s runways more effectively – in 2019.

“The new tower is vital to improve efficiency and safety as Charlotte Douglas continues to expand,” the seven representatives wrote. “The current control tower, constructed decades ago, is too short, positioned incorrectly, and too small to fully capitalize on the airport’s current and anticipated expansion.”

A 2015 transportation and housing appropriations bill included $29 million for the new control tower, but the congressional delegation said the FAA has not yet allocated those funds to the tower.

The letter to FAA Administrator Michael Huerta was signed by Congress members Robert Pittenger, Alma Adams, Virginia Foxx, Trey Gowdy, Richard Hudson, Patrick McHenry and Mick Mulvaney.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article22548636.html