About half of Indiana airports that received federal stimulus dollars this year are small, general-aviation fields that typically don't offer commercial passenger service.

Unlike those in neighboring states Michigan and Ohio, Indiana's primary commercial-service airports received funding on par with the state's small fields that serve flight instructors and leisure pilots who typically fly small single-engine planes.

Some critics have recently chastised the government for spending American Reinvestment and Recovery Act dollars on these small airports, which serve few people. But the funding went to construction projects that were at the top of an existing priority list and needed nothing more than money to break ground, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said.

Eleven Indiana airports, including Fort Wayne International and Smith Field, benefited from the federal spending bill. Those airports – three commercial, six general aviation and two reliever airports – shared about $20 million in federal stimulus dollars. A reliever airport can accommodate large aircraft if needed.

Indiana's largest allotment – $3.9 million – went to Elkhart's general-aviation airport to rehabilitate a runway. Gary-Chicago International received less than $1 million, while Indianapolis International and Fort Wayne International each received about $1.2 million.

In Michigan, no general-aviation airports were awarded money, but four primary commercial airports will share the more than $29 million allotted. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County and MBS International in Saginaw received more than $11 million each.

Four Ohio airports, including two for general aviation, split more than $24 million in stimulus funding, according to a database compiled by Subsidyscope.com, a Pew Charitable Trusts initiative.

The regional FAA staff based in Chicago selected the projects with help from officials in Washington, D.C., and focused on the needs of individual airports, regardless of their home state. The FAA might have funded fewer projects in states like Ohio and Michigan if not enough of them had been considered shovel-ready, Cory said.

Most general-aviation airports receive no more than $150,000 a year in grants regularly provided by the FAA. That's not enough money to remove an outdated taxiway or extend a runway, airport managers said.

Small airports often hold onto that cash, letting it grow over several years so they can build a new terminal or security fence, said Steve Gray, who operates Huntington's municipal airport.

Huntington, like most other similar-sized airports in the region, relies on its contracted engineer to apply for federal grants. But airports handling commercial air carriers typically receive funds before small airfields, and Gray said he wasn't surprised Huntington didn't get a slice of the stimulus pie.

The Williams County airport in Bryan, Ohio, sought but didn't receive $800,000 in stimulus funds to replace a crumbling ramp used to park aircraft, Manager Terry Hallett said.

Without the money to do the work, Hallett worries the next time the Ohio Department of Transportation engineers inspect the airport, they will order the ramp closed. That would limit the type and size of planes that can use the airport, Hallett said.

aiacone@jg.net