Looming state budget concerns have not stopped state officials from proceeding on necessary transportation projects.

County Executive Kathleen Falk announced Tuesday that a bid had been accepted to give the Dane County Regional Airport an extensive $33 million renovation starting in February.

The airport is receiving general obligation bonds for the project and will repay the county over the next 12 years.

“We’re tremendously excited about the beautiful new terminal that will greet passengers as they arrive at our airport,” Falk said.

The current plans involve doubling the size of the existing terminal.

Falk said improvements in technology and mechanical systems coincide with federal demands for increased airport security.

“We are moving ahead with these plans at just the right time to accommodate the heightened security measures which now must be built into airports,” Falk said.

The current renovation plans include details to make the facility more efficient, such as a cooling system that makes ice at night, when electricity is cheaper, and uses it to cool the building during the day. The airport will also save money on energy costs through an automated system that will dim lights and change the amount of cooling or heating going to unused areas of the terminal.

The plans incorporate several other “green building” ideas. The construction company, a joint venture of Madison’s Tri-North Builders and Milwaukee’s Grunau Project Development, will use recycled carpet and ceiling tiles manufactured from recycled soda bottles and will recycle construction wastes on-site.

In another building project that will dip into state funds, Milwaukee mayor John Norquist offered a plan Tuesday to remodel the city’s Marquette Interchange in his State of the City address.

Milwaukee’s highway system has been in dire need of repair for some time, as evidenced by the Dec. 13, 2000, buckling of the city’s Hoan Bridge.

Norquist said his plan would save taxpayers $361 million in rebuilding the city’s interchange, which consists of 152 bridges and overpasses converging near downtown.

He offered his “Affordable Improvement Reconstruction Plan” in response to the state’s dismal financial situation and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s proposed $911 million reconstruction proposal.

“I agree with everyone in Madison who’s saying, ‘No new taxes,'” Norquist said. Norquist said his proposal would not require increased taxes and would prevent construction delays included in the Department of Transportation’s proposal.

“The mayor has had a position on this for quite a while,” Thad Nation, spokesman for Gov. Jim Doyle, said. “The governor has said he’ll have a scaled-back version of the Marquette Interchange plan in his new budget. But he has promised the project will be part of his budget when he presents it Feb. 18.”