Congressman Tim Walz saw firsthand Friday how one of the country’s first stimulus grants is working at the Albert Lea Airport.

Walz toured the construction site of the new airport runway — for which Albert Lea received $2.85 million — and heard about the project and the jobs created by it.

“The construction on this runway in Albert Lea is exactly the kind of project the Recovery Act was intended to fund,” said Walz. “Regional airports in southern Minnesota are a vital economic development tool and this project has not only created jobs, but it has also generated the beginnings of what will be prolonged economic opportunity fostered by a better airport. Infrastructure is a community’s lifeline to the outside world and without adequate roads, airports, or commercial land for expansion, new business will bypass good cities like Albert Lea.”

Jeff Carlson, vice president of Ulland Bros., the contractor on the project, said the project is on schedule. “We had up to 20 people working on the project,” he said, adding the company may not have been able to keep these employees working without this project.

“We don’t see a lot of this type of work come to our area,” Carlson said.

Airport manager Jim Hanson said the airport fit the bill for stimulus funds because the administration wanted “shovel-ready” projects — projects that could be implemented immediately. The engineering portion of the project was already done.

Hanson said the current runway was engineered in 1954 and paved in 1955.

At that time, the plan was to eventually construct a new runway 300 feet west of the one just laid down and use the existing runway as a taxiway. The project goes along with that plan, but the Federal Aviation Administration requirement for new construction is now 400 feet.

Hanson said the Owatonna and Austin airports have recently been reconstructed.

“But we got an extra 10 years out of our runway,” Hanson said, adding the airport maintained it well.

The project also extends the runway to 5,000 feet. That distance has become the default minimum for most corporate aircraft operators. In fact, Hanson said, most of those operators don’t even carry the approach charts for airports with runways less than 5,000 feet.

“This will literally put Albert Lea on the map,” Hanson said. “Too often, we focus on who flies from a place — but I would submit that it is more important who flies to our community.”

Craig Ludtke of Poet Risk Management said the ethanol company has three corporate jets and looks for airports like the one Albert Lea will have for safety and efficiency when visiting its 26 ethanol plants.

Hanson stressed that this project is not just for jet operations — it will make it safer for all aircraft operations.

Hanson said people have asked him why the old runway wasn’t just rebuilt. He said it’s cheaper to build a new runway. Since the plan all along was to move the runway, houses were built in the clearway in the 1960s. To simply lengthen the runway, those houses would have to be acquired. Lighting would also have to be replaced and the runway itself excavated to a depth of five feet to redo deteriorated asphalt and drainage. After all that, the airport still wouldn’t have a taxiway for aircraft.

Although the focus is on the runway, Plaza Street relocation has also been a part of this project, Hanson said. The new road, utilities and bridge over Bancroft Creek were paid for with Federal Aviation Administration Trust Funds.

Albert Lea also received about $440,000 to rehabilitate the old runway and $709,000 to create access to the Interstate 35/Interstate Business Park.

Dan Dorman, executive director of the Albert Lea Economic Development Agency, said construction to the new access road to the industrial park will create construction jobs in the spring, too. “It’s forward thinking that will pay dividends 20, 30 or 40 years down the road,” Dorman said.

“We were pleased to host Congressman Walz today to demonstrate Recovery Act funding at work in the city’s airport runway expansion project,” said Mayor Mike Murtaugh. “We thank the congressman and his staff for work on securing funding for this and other area projects.”