Evan Barrett
Aviation Planner & Project Manager, Mead & Hunt
AGE: 38
- Alma Mater: BA, University of Wisconsin-Madison; MS, University of Iowa
- What is your dream job? Film Editor
- Who has impacted your career the most? Mentors at Mead & Hunt. Too many for this space, they know who they are.
- If I could go anywhere, it would be: Rome, Italy
- If I could have dinner with anyone living or dead: My grandfather
- Favorite airport restaurant/eatery: Shoyu @ MSP
When Evan Barrett came to Mead & Hunt out of college, his initial focus wasn’t on airports, but the cities around them.
Having graduate from an urban planning program, Barrett had worked on land use and economic development projects for the firm’s clients, but the notion of aviation intrigued him.
“I was attracted to airports as kinds of mini cities,” he said. “There’s a lot of interesting land use planning issues around airports and airports really serve as an economic development engine for the communities they serve.”
Evan Barrett is a senior project manager within Mead & Hunt’s Midwest aviation planning practice. Throughout his 10 year tenure at Mead & Hunt, he has grown in project responsibilities, from an entry level planner to leading project team efforts on multiple diverse aviation planning projects.
During his tenure with the company, Barrett has contributed to more than 150 projects at 50 different airports spread across the Upper Midwest and nationally. Those projects include airport master plans, environmental assessments, sustainability plans, zoning plans and airfield safety and compliance evaluations at general aviation to medium-hub commercial service airports.
Barrett is skilled and accomplished at researching and documenting the purpose and need for improvement projects to help airports establish this key element early in the planning and environmental processes, and has served as lead planner on several National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) studies that received Findings of No Significant Impact from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
During the extension of Runway 13/31 project at the St. Cloud Regional Airport, Barrett provided initial planning and environmental documentation for a 500-foot extension to the airport’s primary runway that utilized declared distances to increase takeoff length for users. The unique approach allowed the airport to provide uninterrupted service for its air carriers, reduce impacts to navigational aids, and eliminated takeoff weight penalties for the air carrier.
He recently led a successful 404/NEPA merger process for a complex project in the upper Midwest which received a FONSI/Record of Decision.
