Governor Doyle approves $4 million for projects at La Crosse Municipal Airport

July 14, 2008

Governor Jim Doyle has approved $3,980,000 for two projects at the La Crosse Municipal Airport. One project, for $580,000, will construct a new t-hangar site and reconstruct two hangar taxilanes. The other project, for $3.4 million, will reconfigure a runway intersection. The Governor's action releases $549,000 in state funds to help complete the projects. The city of La Crosse is contributing $201,000, and the Federal Aviation Administration will provide $3,230,000. U.S. Senator Herb Kohl and U.S. Representative Ron Kind were instrumental in securing federal funds for the airport improvements.

According to Wendy Hottenstein, airport development engineer with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, the one project will provide an additional hangar site to accommodate a future t-hangar to house aircraft. The taxilanes that are to be reconstructed were built in the 1960s and 1970s and are in very poor condition. The other project will construct a new layout for the runway 3 and 36 intersection to minimize pilot confusion as to which runway they are on.

Construction should begin in July 2008 and be completed by the end of the year.

The La Crosse Municipal Airport is located four miles north of the city of La Crosse on French Island in the middle of the Mississippi River. There are 89 aircraft based at the airport, which has three runways that accommodate approximately 50,000 take-offs and landings annually.

For more information, contact:
Wendy Hottenstein, WisDOT Airport Development Engineer
(608) 261-6278, wendy.hottenstein@dot.state.wi.us