GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Green Bay Austin Straubel International Airport is getting some upgrades, thanks to a federal grant. The airport will receive $2.8 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), which provides nearly $2.9 billion to the nearly 3,100 airports across the country.
Airport Director Marty Piette says that money will have a huge impact on more than just the airport.
“It impacts safety, and obviously safety is of utmost importance for airport. But it also provides better access to our community, so that can have a pretty large impact on our entire region…As smaller airports, it is a little harder to compete for some of the discretionary money that larger airports like Chicago, Minneapolis, and Detroit compete for,” Piette told WTAQ News. “If it improves accessebility to our community or the ability to travel outside of our community, that’s where the main impact is. It really is a community wide, a region wide endeavor – and really benefits the entire region.”
The money can be invested in runways, taxiways, safety and sustainability projects as well as terminal improvements, airport transit connections and airport roadway projects. But Piette says he’s not quite sure where the money will go, at least, not yet.
“It won’t offset revenue losses or be used for operating costs and things like. This is for infrastructure, this is for capital investments…We’re looking at maybe some various terminal building improvement projects, or maybe some runway or taxiway projects. We really need to sit down and evaluate our five-year airport capital improvement plan,” Piette said. “We’re not going to build a new runway, but we’re able to upgrade our facilities, maybe provide a better passenger experience, and improve safety.”
Piette estimates plans for the funding will be finalized in the first quarter of 2022.
