by Cami Mountain
TAYLOR COUNTY (WAOW) — A multi-million dollar airport improvement project in Taylor County will give company executives better access to the area.
The Taylor County Airport sits just outside of Medford, the city that houses corporations like Weather Shield & Kraft Foods.
Many times to get to the city company executives fly in. The airport manager says its a regular thing because of convenience.
Taylor County Airport manager, Jim Wood says, “They can be anywhere in the U.S. on a corporate aircraft they can be in here in three hours and do their business and be out of town in a short period of time.”
While accessibility to the city makes their jobs easier, Wood says, construction at the airport will make landing and taking off easier too.
Crews are busy re-doing the runway by making it longer, wider and tougher.
Wood adds, “We had some major crack issues and some weight limitations that we had to deal with.”
While construction is good for business at the airport, it’s good for the surrounding area too. Medford Mayor Mike Wellner says improving the airport entices business owners to visit to the city and possibly stay and build.
Wellner says, “When we can get them to fly directly into Medford, it’s easier to convince them to come here and see what we’re doing and be hands on and face to face with them. So, it’s huge.”
It’s been about 14 years since any improvements have been done to the airport runways.
The airport managers says crews are ahead of schedule and hope to have the $10 million project finished by late September or early August.
http://www.waow.com/Global/story.asp?s=10847195&clienttype=printable
Source: WAOW-TV (WISCONSIN)
Date: 2009-08-04