The state Department of Transportation has received more than $7 million in state funds to prepare for an eventual project to rehabilitate the Hilo International Airport’s main runway in 2027.

State Sen. Lorraine Ino­uye (D, Hilo) announced last week the release of $7.4 million from the state’s capital improvement project fund to be used for design work that will be a precursor to a major rehabilitation project at the airport that is estimated to cost $162 million.

Transportation Department spokesperson Shelly Kunishige said via email the project will rehabilitate or replace Runway 8-26, the airport’s main 9,800-foot-long airstrip, as well as its shoulders and an associated taxiway. The runway was built in the mid-1960s.

What that rehabilitation will entail, however, has yet to be determined. Ku­nishige said via email that the design process funded through the $7.4 million will determine the scope and time frame of the larger project, although she added DOT hopes to begin construction by the first quarter of 2027.

Inouye told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald on Friday that the rehabilitation project will be funded through federal sources and is part of a routine schedule of runway maintenance.

“We’ve got to keep up with our conditions,” Ino­uye said. “Even if no overseas carriers are coming in, in case of a disaster, we have to have options open. There’s no way for us to get around it.”

However, Inouye said she’s pursuing additional improvements for the airport, for which she will seek funding during 2025’s legislative session.

Having toured the airport recently, Inouye pointed out several areas that need to be renovated: parts of the terminal that leak in rainy weather, palm trees along the roadways that become problems for maintenance staff, termite infestations and more.

Grander updates could be coming to the airport in the future. Inouye said that following the demolition of an old cargo ramp and other facilities west of the main airport, she is investigating the possibility of eventually building a hotel at that site.

“We’re looking at this at both the Kona airport and Hilo,” Inouye said. “It’s probably going to end up in Kona first. … But it’s like what they do at airports on the mainland. In Chicago I stayed at a Hilton hotel that had a tunnel you could walk through straight to (Chicago O’Hare International Airport), although I don’t think we have the capabilities to build a tunnel to the airport over here.”