WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representative Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ) announced a U.S Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grant of $596,427 for upgrades to the runway safety area at Teterboro Airport. The grant will be administered by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

"Teterboro Airport is an important part of the region's aviation system. The airport sits in the middle of a densely populated area with a runway adjacent to a major highway, which is why I consider these runway safety upgrades a top priority," said Rep. Pascrell, a member of the House Budget Committee.

"As a part of the transportation-heavy metropolitan area, Teterboro Airport has very particular needs, different from our other regional airports. This grant should help make the facility safer and more secure for the hundreds of thousands of flights that annually land and takeoff from Teterboro as well for the surrounding communities in South Bergen."

In February 2005, 14 people were injured after an aircraft overran a runway at Teterboro Airport. A law authored by the late Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) in response required all of the nation's major airports to have a 1,000 foot runway end buffer zone by 2015 to ensure passenger safety in the event of an overrun.

Airports that are unable to satisfy this requirement because of either natural or man-made barriers, the FAA allows the use of a shorter runway safety area with a properly designed arrestor bed, which is an area designed to slow an aircraft down in a short distance.

Teterboro Airport received an FAA grant in 2013 totaling $1 million, which was also used for improving runway safety. The grant announced today will fund Phase 3 of 3 of improvements to the "Runway 1/19" safety area to enhance the safety of operations at the airport.

Last year, Rep. Pascrell also announced a $3 million federal grant to repair equipment at Teterboro Airport that was destroyed during Hurricane Sandy, as well as a $2.2 million grant to study the effects of noise pollution at the airport.