Southwestern Utah's swelling population center has had to make do with a bluff-top airport that has room for only a 6,100-foot runway that limits regional carrier Skywest to turboprop flights there. On Friday, U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson informed the city that the Federal Aviation Administration has committed $90 million over eight years to build a jet-capable airport southeast of town.

"This has been a long time in anticipation. We started this process in earnest in 1994," Mayor Daniel McArthur said.

He expects the airport to cost $170 million, with about $40 million to be raised by the sale of prime mid-town view lots at the old airport. Previously the city received about $22 million in two federal grants that it has used to buy property. The city still needs to buy about $10 million worth of land to complete the project, he said.

The result should be an airport that handles regional jets plus any 737s that an airline cares to fly there, the mayor said. It also likely expands St. George's connections with jet flights to Denver - not possible using the current turboprop access, he said.

Skywest currently flies to Salt Lake City five to seven times a day, and to Los Angeles twice.

The airport should open by 2011, McArthur said.

The project was long delayed by a court challenge and environmental study of noise from flights over southern Utah's national parks. An FAA study of noise in the parks, including from hundreds of overflights that don't land in St. George, cleared the way for construction.

The congressman asked FAA to authorize the money this winter to keep the project on track, spokeswoman Alyson Heyrend said.

"It's particularly time-sensitive now because they're buying land, signing contracts and doing design," she said. "It's really critical that they have this federal commitment in hand."