The Jefferson City Memorial Airport reopened Monday after a 12-day closure for renovations on the runways.
According to Jefferson City’s Director of Operations Britt Smith, the $7 million project has been in the works for two to three years, but the plan was approved unanimously last October.
Most of the project planned around working on the airport's runways including switching from asphalt to concrete runways.
However, work needing to be done on the intersection of the two runways is what caused the shutdown.
Smith said the city began working out a plan with MoDOT for the new upgrades after grant funding became available.
“We were able to put together a very good project that’s going to serve our customers for many years to come,” Smith said.
The airport is also important in helping the economy. Smith said it provides about $22 million worth of economic impact to its region.
Current tenants are happy with the new modifications, but there are still other plans for the airport.
“We have a list of projects that we would like to work on at the airport but some require a little bit of funding and some of it requires a lot of funding so it becomes a balancing act of when that funding is available and what we can afford to do at any given time,” Smith said.
Smith said he is pleased to have the runway back and also appreciates the patience of not only the tenants but the businesses located at the airport.
The current renovation project is set to wrap up later this year.