FLINT - Bishop Airport will get an additional $2.5 million in federal funds - money that will give it what it needs to finish a cargo apron expansion at the airfield.

U.S. Rep. Dale E. Kildee, D-Flint, was expected to announce the Federal Aviation Administration grant in a news release this afternoon.

Bishop Airport Director James L. Rice II called the announcement "great news."

The cargo expansion is one part of a larger effort to make the airport more of a transportation hub by making it easier for more cargo transfers using aircraft and trucks.

Next spring, work is expected to begin on a sorting facility with one side dedicated to truck loading and unloading and the other side used by planes dropping off and picking up cargo.

Some local officials call the overall project an "intermodal hub" -an area that uses multiple modes of transportation to move goods to market.

One economic impact study by Social Systems Research Institute estimated such a hub here could eventually result in the creation of as many as 7,500 jobs.

Bishop was short the $2.5 million that the FAA is now funding to increase the size of the west cargo apron, which is used for staging aircraft while they are being loaded and unloaded. Rice said the agency had earlier awarded the airport part, but not all, of an initial $5-million request.

"There's so many requests. We had to really convince them this intermodal project was extremely important, and we had to elevate it," Kildee said. "We talk about the passenger travel, but freight is a very important part of Bishop's success."