Business View Magazine - Dec 2023

and Director Fiore goes through several efforts to ensure that. The first way is by utilizing federal and state grant funding to apply towards the repaving and upgrading of runways. Most recently main Runway 04/22 was repaved, and new electrical systems and signage were installed in 2019. The total for the project was approximately $4.6 million that was awarded in grant funding. However, this maintenance also includes the taxiways that run parallel to the runways. In fact, St. Clair is planning a repaving of Taxi Bravo, which accesses Main Runway 04/22 in the coming years. The airport also vigilantly manages the foliage and wildlife that stands to potentially obstruct traffic. “We have a lot of trees in the area, so we are working with our consultants… then creating a plan so we can address them… we want to have a safe space for our pilots, but we also don’t want to just do the bare minimum,” Fiore says. This maintenance involves potential trimming or removal of trees both inside and outside the perimeter fence that covers 800 of the airport’s 1000 acres to block animals like deer from wandering onto the runways. The majority of everything above is handled by St. Clair’s longtime and foremost consultants, Mead & Hunt.. AN INTEGRATED FUTURE AHEAD With quality and convenience already secured, the only thing left for St. Clair to tackle is expansion, and Director Fiore already has her eye on what that future looks like. “My big thing for St. Clair County International Airport is community relations. Opening the gates to our neighbors and students and saying, hey, 384 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 12