Economy squeezes Wisconsin regional airport

More than $13 million worth of construction work will take place at Dane County Regional Airport again this year, despite a tough economy and fewer travelers.

"This is a big airport, and infrastructure still needs to be maintained," said Director of Engineering Mike Kirchner.

Work -- including a $9.7 million package announced last week -- will consist of upgrades on multiple taxiways as well as relighting runways, upgrading the airfield's electrical vault and switching some aging asphalt slabs to concrete.

The airport isn't on the hook to pay for the lion's share of work; the Federal Aviation Administration put up more than $9 million for projects, and the state kicked in more than $2 million. Fluctuations in both material prices and the amount the FAA is able to give in lieu of a lack of a federal spending reauthorization package has caused a few bumps along the way.

"We've been very fortunate," said Kim Jones, the airport's finance manager. "But there have been some projects that we've had to break into phases and some bids that we've had to revisit because they came in a bit higher than expected."

Still, Dane County Regional is faring better than other airports around the state.

Terry Ripp, an airport engineering specialist with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, said a recent project to build a new entrance road at Austin Straubel International Airport in Green Bay was pulled because of economic concerns.

"The project would've added more parking, but one of its sponsors said if people aren't coming to fly, they're not going to be parking here, either," she said.

Also earlier this year, a new hangar project at La Crosse Municipal Airport also got the ax after original cost estimates more than doubled and airport officials said the demand for the hangar space just wasn't there.

Jones said passenger numbers at Dane County Regional are down nearly 5 percent from last year, but Kirchner said it could be worse.

"We still get a lot of corporate traffic," he said.

FAA representatives did not return calls Tuesday to discuss how federal spending is being affected in light of the economic downturn, but Jones said a lot of airports have seen projects shift or stop because of the delay in spending reauthorization.

"Not all the money that everyone thought would be coming in has come in," she said. "It's delayed the timing for getting the money out, and a lot of airports maybe got 75 percent of the money they were promised. But they still have to reapply for the last 25 percent.

"It changes things when it all doesn't come up front."

Ripp said it's not out of the question that projects through-out the state could face stop-pages yet this year.

"It can always happen," she said. "Besides fuel, things like asphalt prices are going up weekly."

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