Being in the middle of the state’s lakes country, tourism plays a big role in the area’s economy, and in order to encourage more visitors, DTL needed to expand the length of its primary runway to facilitate more private and business jet operations. The original runway was 4,500 feet long and 75 feet wide, the expansion included the extension of the runway to become a 5,200-foot runway, with a width of 100 feet, as well as a full length parallel taxiway.

The project also included a precision instrument approach as well as a new approach lighting system.

The success of this project can be attributed to extensive planning and stakeholder coordination and several funding opportunities, significantly reducing the sponsor share of the overall cost for this project.

The expanded runway was opened for traffic on July 31, 2020.