Stimulus funds fuel BWI repaving project 

Posted: 2:31 pm Thu, September 2, 2010
By Nicholas Sohr
Daily Record Business Writer

A $41 million upgrade to the concrete apron at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport will be finished in about 11 months, airport officials said Thursday.

Using $15 million from the economic stimulus package and funds from other federal sources, the airport is replacing more than 14 acres of pavement, and the water, natural gas and communication lines beneath it.

The stimulus pumped $1.3 billion into airport and air traffic control upgrades nationally. State officials credit BWI’s share with finally spurring a long-overdue project that had been awaiting funding.

John D. Porcari, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation, said he hopes the BWI project and others like it around the country will help build support for more investments in transportation infrastructure.

Porcari’s trip to the airport Thursday was part of an effort to showcase the benefits that infrastructure improvements can have immediately in the form of construction jobs, but also in “building the nation’s future prosperity.”

“We’re living off investments our parents and grandparents made in transportation. And if we’re honest with ourselves, we know we’re not keeping up,” said Porcari, who led Maryland’s transportation department under two governors.

The state, too, is focused on transportation issues of its own, with two light rail lines expected to cost more than $3 billion in the planning stages. A commission to study Maryland’s transportation needs and new ways to fund them was formed in August after the General Assembly watched funds for new projects dwindle recently in lean budget years.

State Sen. James E. DeGrange Sr., who heads the subcommittees that oversee transportation funding and capital projects, and whose district includes BWI, said the state needs to find ways to fund transportation beyond the gas tax, which has held at 23.5 cents per gallon since 1992.

“You’ve got to do things to protect our residents and make it a fair and balanced system,” said DeGrange, a Democrat. “We don’t know what that will be yet. But it will be challenging.”

But, DeGrange said, the payoffs of investing in transportation can be well worth the price. BWI brings about $5.1 billion in spending to the state every year and is responsible for nearly 100,000 jobs, according to the airport.

The pavement being replaced between the C and D concourses dates to the 1970s, and some of the lines underneath it to the 1950s, when Friendship Airport was built on the site.

BWI Executive Director Paul J. Wiedefeld said that when the pavement deteriorates, small pieces can be sucked into aircraft engines and damage them.

“The passengers may not appreciate it, but without it, you can’t run your business,” Wiedefeld said. “If you don’t have good pavement, these guys can’t come and go.”

BWI has closed some gates during the construction and shifted flights to unaffected areas to avoid delays. Work on the project began in July 2009.

The airport is also installing a new radar system, to give air traffic controllers a better picture of the planes on the ground, and other safety features to reduce the chance of a collision.

And Wednesday, the state approved a $21 million contract with Pepco Energy Services Inc. to make the airport more energy-efficient. Improvements, to be completed by December 2011, will include more-efficient lighting and a solar panel array on the daily parking garage.