Cheyenne Regional Airport officials say "a number of different factors" have forced them to delay work on a new terminal project until next year.

Airport officials had hoped to break ground on the roughly $15.5 million project this summer, but Deputy Director of Aviation Jim Schell says it will likely be this spring before construction gets underway.

"Currently we've got a bid package out on the street that we're going to open bids next week on," said Schell. "That stipulates that construction will begin on or after April 1, 2017."

Schell says officials made the decision to postpone the start of the project because they were still trying to finalize design plans and secure grant funding from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

"We were going through the city's review process for the site plan," said Schell. "That, combined with finishing out the design, kind of put us into a bit later of a time schedule than we'd hoped."

"One of the other factors that has played into it is the FAA funding that we're receiving," Schell added.  "Through the legislation that just got passed in Congress, we're actually receiving an additional $850,000 worth of funding that's hopefully going to go towards the parking lot for the facility and that funding won't be available until the February/March time-frame of next year."

Schell says they hope to name a contractor for the project on August 25.

Construction on the project, which includes a passenger terminal, parking lot and an aircraft parking apron, is expected to take about a year.

More From K2 Radio