By Mary Drier (Contact / Staff Bio)
June 11, 2008 - 12:00 a.m. EST

CARO ‹ Over the next five years, more than $8 million worth of improvements are expected to be made at the Tuscola Area Airport.

Planning for the future is the project to be concentrated on this year at the airport, located west of Caro.

“The ALP (airport layout plan) is the big one for this year,” said airport Manager Eric Engler. “It’s kind of like making up a wish list for airport growth... a vision for the future.”

The cost of the plan, which will be done by Mead and Hunt out of Lansing, is $100,000.

“That’s the only thing that is to be done this year,” said Engler. “We have to have that before we can do the engineering for the crosswind runway, which we hope can be done next year.”

Over the last few years, about $3.5 million worth of improvements have been done, and more work is being planned.

Preliminary plans include about $8 million worth of improvements to the airport over the next four years with about $215,000 from local funding and the rest from federal and state funding.

More than 34 businesses utilize the airport’s services on a regular basis.

Since 1993, the Tuscola Area Airport Authority has overseen numerous capital improvement projects on the airport, including taxiway improvements, a jet fuel tank, security fencing, a hangar building and a runway extension design, funded by local, state and federal grants.

The Airport Authority currently has seven local municipalities as members. These include the Village of Caro, the Village of Cass City, the City of Vassar, Almer Township, Elkland Township, Ellington Township and Indianfields Township.

Mary Drier is a staff writer for the Tuscola County Advertiser. She can be reached at drier@tcadvertiser.com.