When a pilot flies into Bend Municipal Airport, nothing short of vigilance is acceptable.

Without an air traffic control tower, safety at the airport is in each pilot’s own hands.

However, construction is poised to start as early as 2024 on an air traffic control tower, thanks to federal, state and local funding.

The Bend City Council approved a $1.3 million contract Wednesday with an engineering firm to design the tower. The entire project is estimated to cost $15 million.

“The airport’s air traffic control tower is being built for safety, safety, safety,” said Tracy Williams, airport manager. “It is not to accommodate commercial air traffic operations or to bring in larger aircraft.”

Bend has the third busiest airport in terms of takeoffs and landings, ranking above Redmond Airport. Bend has around 140,000 takeoffs and landings per year, which is 380 per day, compared to Redmond’s roughly 70,000 per year.

Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler echoed Williams’ emphasis on safety.

“Everyone’s out there navigating by radio, and they do the best they can,” Kebler said.

However, given the amount of traffic the Bend airport sees every day, she said, a tower is essential.

The tower will be 115 feet tall, but operators of the tower will be sitting at about 85 feet above the runway and have a 360-degree view around the airport. Construction is anticipated to be completed by October 2025.

The tower will help reduce congestion in the air, especially with the number of airports in the Central Oregon region, which includes Redmond, Prineville, Sunriver and Madras.

Money for the tower is coming from a variety of places, much of it federal.

The City Council accepted two grants Wednesday from the Federal Aviation Administration, which, combined, total more than $1.7 million.

Additional funding came from the 2023 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that offered nationwide investments in transportation, water, power and the climate.

Oregon’s U.S. senators, Democrats Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, and Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Happy Valley, helped to secure $1.6 million funding.

“It’s critical that we keep our airport infrastructure up to date to maintain a resilient supply chain and a healthy economy. I’ll continue supporting efforts through the appropriations process and through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to invest in Oregon and Oregon’s economy,” Chavez-DeRemer said in an email.

Around $9 million in congressionally directed spending is currently pending. Plus, the city has yet to match some of its previously awarded federal funding sources. Where that money will come from is uncertain because no funds from the city’s budget were dedicated to this project.

“It basically takes an act of Congress to get funding for an air traffic control tower. That’s why only one or two are built a year,” Williams said.

The airport, which generates most of its revenue by charging rent for ground space and hangars, is mostly self-sufficient, according to Williams.

Once the air tower is constructed, the airport will likely charge a user fee, she said. The fee hasn’t been determined yet.

There are no plans to bring commercial flights to Bend. There’s no reason to compete with Redmond, Williams said, especially since Bend is heavily used for general aviation and business and its runway isn’t long enough to accommodate commercial jets.

“This is how we distinguish,” Williams said. “Bend airport and Redmond airport don’t compete.”

Bend’s airport, she said, is basically everything Redmond’s is not.

Redmond has been in full support of the tower in Bend, according to the Redmond Airport Manager Zach Bass.

With Central Oregon having one of the busiest airspaces in the state, another tower is going to make things a lot smoother, he said. And coordination between the two towers is going to be crucial.

Bass added: “They’re going to be talking all the time.”