Catherine Stevens, director of the Eugene Airport, updated Lane County commissioners Dec. 9 on a package of renovation and expansion projects intended to relieve terminal gate capacity constraints and support future nonstop routes.

Stevens said passenger counts at EUG have risen since 2019 and the terminal reached gate capacity in May 2021. She said the airport has identified roughly $208 million in funding for an initial set of enabling projects (federal grants, passenger facility charges, airport revenue and potential bonding) but that an additional roughly $240 million is required to complete the full Concourse C group of projects.

The capital list includes apron rehabilitation (approximately 500,000 square feet of terminal ramp rehab), drainage and wetland mitigation, a concourse‑A expansion to add about 7,000 square feet of shared seating and accessibility improvements, and design work for a fully in‑line explosive detection baggage system (funded in part by a TSA design grant).

Stevens said traditional PFC‑backed bond financing would likely push the Concourse C timeline decades into the future and that construction costs and debt‑service constraints mean the airport must explore alternate funding sources. "Without major facility expansion, that demand and most importantly, the economic benefit that comes from that demand will go elsewhere," Stevens said.

To evaluate options, airport staff are launching the "liftoff EUG" feasibility study, expected to take six to nine months, to gauge the viability of sources such as additional federal and state grants, congressionally directed spending, public‑private partnerships, naming rights and benefactor funding. Stevens said the airport's long‑range forecast projects passengers could more than double over the next 15 years and that earlier action would position the region to capture accompanying economic benefits.

Commissioners asked about timeline, airline partnership dynamics and previous expansions; Stevens said the last significant terminal expansion included a new B‑gate hold room in 2014 and that a full Concourse C build would provide capacity for 50 years. The board voiced broad support for continuing the feasibility work and asked staff to circulate presentation materials to commissioners.