Mead & Hunt – Up, Up, and Away

Since World War II, the firm’s airports division had been active in many military runway and airport construction projects, as well as a growing number of municipal projects.  Some of the major projects included a large apron design at Volk Field and taxiway projects for Mitchell Field in Milwaukee.

The Dane County Regional Airport has provided the firm with the most consistent work.  Former company president Leo Bussan represented Mead & Hunt at the airport for 25 years until he became president in 1986.  Mead & Hunt was involved in the creation of the airport’s master plan in 1965-67 and in the construction of the current terminal.  Between 1973 and 1974, Mead & Hunt received one of its largest contracts of this period from the Dane County Regional Airport – quality control for the airport’s north-south runway/taxiway project.

During the early years of municipal airport design and construction, Mead & Hunt surveyed a new runway for the Dane County Regional Airport.  Because of the company’s small staff, the engineers headed the survey crew and carried projects through construction.  Mead & Hunt’s work for Truax Air Force Base during World War II led to the contracts with Dane County.  By the late 1950s, Mead & Hunt designed three other municipal airports – Crawford County, Kenosha, and Hartford.