Governor Walker approves General Mitchell International projects totaling over $3.8M

MILWAUKEE -- Governor Scott Walker announced the approval of three projects totaling over $3.8 million to rehabilitate the General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee. The announcement comes on Thursday, January 14th.

The project will focus on rehabilitating pavements, a portion of the perimeter fence and replace aging airfield guidance signage.

Wendy Hottenstein, airport project manager with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT), said a $2.2 million project will rehabilitate 30-year-old pavement along the 5,535-foot Runway 13/31. An approximately $1.4 million project will rehabilitate the 8,300-foot Runway 7R/25L, the shoulder portion of the 9,900-foot Runway 1L/19R and replace airfield guidance signage. A $200,659 project will rehabilitate a portion of a perimeter fence to bring it up to federal standards.

Wisconsin's busiest airport, General Mitchell International has five paved runways that accommodate over 100,000 airport operations and some 6.5 million commercial passengers annually.

The funding breakdown for the three projects are as follows:

Work on the three recently-approved projects should be completed by the summer of 2016.

General Mitchell International Airport is one of 98 facilities included int he Wisconsin State Airport System Plan, which makes it eligible for state and federal funding. Airport improvement projects are administered through WisDOT's Bureau of Aeronautics.