Mary Strait
At the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Aeronautics (WisDOT BOA), Mary Strait will be the first to admit she can’t tell you all the details of improvements planned at your airport. Your airport’s BOA project manager can do a much better job of that. But she can give you the “bird’s eye” view of what’s planned at your airport and at all the 98 airports in Wisconsin, qualified to receive federal and state aid for improvement projects. Mary can also tell you what other improvements you may want to consider, how and when they could be funded, and what steps need to be taken to get the improvements going.
Mary became the BOA program engineer in 1993. Her one-sentence job description: Work with airport owners to identify and prioritize improvement needs, then look for ways to fund those improvements in keeping with FAA and state guidance.
Much of her involvement with airport projects comes early in the development process. She works with the airport owner (i.e. municipality) to develop a five to 10-year improvement plan. The airport owner makes the formal funding request for any or all of the items in the plan via passage of a petition resolution. Mary and others at BOA analyze the request to make sure it qualifies for funding. Then, Mary will put the validated project requests in the bureau’s improvement program, making adjustments based on available funds.
To make these funding decisions, Mary uses a priority rating system, which assigns point values to each item based on the level of activity at the airport and the improvement desired.
From there on, the bureau’s airport project manager is the airport owner’s main contact, but Mary is often still involved in BOA discussions concerned with project progress and scheduling. And of course, the airport owner needs to fine-tune their long-range plans with her, as the airport’s needs change.
Wisconsin is a block grant state; meaning BOA manages the improvement program for general aviation airports on FAA’s behalf. Mary Strait works with the FAA Airports District Office to determine project eligibility and identify airport needs and funding strategies for both air carrier and GA airports.
Along with making the best use of existing federal and state funds, Mary works with the FAA to identify projects that could qualify for additional federal discretionary funds, which are distributed nationally on a project-by-project basis. Sometimes this process includes communicating airport needs to Congress and other government officials. Mary also keeps track of the federal and state airport funding bills, since funding is often the critical path to project accomplishment.
Before coming to BOA, Mary Strait worked for 11 years as design engineer in WisDOT’s highways division. There, she managed Interstate, state highway, and local road and bridge projects, with improvements ranging in complexity from bridge overlays to a brand new Interstate highway interchange. Most of the projects were WisDOT-designed, so she was involved in all aspects of project development: environmental analysis, agency coordination, geometric design, right-of-way plat development and plans and specifications preparation. She spent time in the field monitoring construction projects, where she tracked project details both small and large including making sure the contractor placed the sod ditch lining “green side up!”
Mary Strait’s highways background serves her well at BOA, and her engineering knowledge provides her a solid, general understanding of project development. In turn, her project management experience complements her program management experience.
Mary Strait holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from UW-Madison. She is registered as a Professional Engineer in the state of Wisconsin. Her husband, David Strait, is a mechanical engineering manager at TomoTherapy in Madison. They have two daughters: one in college, the other preparing to start college in the fall. Mary spends much of her free time in music and church-related activities, and does voluntary service, playing classical guitar for terminally ill patients at HospiceCare Inc. Whether at work in BOA or as a volunteer in her community, Mary Strait is dedicated to keeping Wisconsin’s aviation community operating efficiently, helping to ensure a smooth landing.
