Unfunded Needs – Airport Expansion to Accommodate Passenger Growth

Posted by Larry Ehl on Tuesday, January 10th, 2012

“Unfunded Needs” provides examples of planned projects that cannot advance due to a lack of funding. These projects could move people and goods more safely, quickly, and cleanly; foster economic and community vitality and/or improve the energy and environmental sustainability of the transportation network.

The American Society for Civil Engineers (ASCE) gives our transportation infrastructure a grade of “D.” The U.S. spends about 1.7% of GDP on transportation infrastructure – in real inflation-adjusted dollars that’s about the same as 1968. The U.S. is operating without a long-term, focused strategic investment plan for transportation improvements. The last multi-year transportation bill expired in 2009 and has been extended temporarily several times.

Tri-State Airport in Huntington, West Virginia is experiencing strong passenger growth and needs to expand its parking, ticketing and baggage facilities. The Airport was an unsuccessful applicant for a TIGER III grant of $17.5 million. The remainder of the $33.5 million project would be funded from parking revenues, passenger and car rental fees, and rental income from leased spaces.

Here’s more about the project:

“As envisioned, the Tri-State Intermodal Transportation and Business Center would include not only parking but also the airport’s ticketing and baggage claim operations, which would be relocated from the current terminal building. The space those operations now occupy in the terminal would be used as a holding area for passengers waiting to board their flights and the present holding area would be demolished, providing more ramp space. An elevated covered walkway would link the new center to the current terminal.”

Airport officials intend to reapply for future federal grants.

Read the full article (TranspotationIssuesDaily.com): Unfunded Needs – Airport Expansion to Accommodate Passenger Growth

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Larry Ehl is the founder and publisher of Transportation Issues Daily. In the public sector, Larry was Federal Relations Manager for Washington State DOT; Chief of Staff to US Senator Slade Gorton; and was twice elected to the Edmonds School Board.

Tags: airports, Huntington, Larry Ehl, TIGER, Transportation Issues Daily, Tri-State Airport, West Virginia

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 10th, 2012 at 11:14 am and is filed under Aging Infrastructure, Aviation, Bipartisan, Economic Stimulus, Funding, Guest Post, Policy, Public Transportation, The Infra Blog . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.