ARRA funds support aviation in Arizona

Thanks for all of the feedback on our transit and rail and bike and pedestrian efforts.

Today, in Phoenix, I had the pleasure of announcing the release of $28 million in stimulus funds to support safety, security, and capacity at six Arizona airports.

The largest chunk of that, a $10.5 million grant for runway rehabilitation, will be used by Phoenix’s Sky Harbor, an international airport that served over 40 million people last year. The money will rehabilitate Taxiway C, which is showing cracks and wear.  This taxiway shows how much activity Sky Harbor has seen, but rest assured it’s going to see a lot more activity because, as I told the people of Phoenix today, "The President is serious about getting the economy restarted."

Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) we are creating jobs in Arizona and across the country while investing in the long-term safety and economic vitality of our airports.

Our investments in Arizona go well beyond Phoenix. We’re spending $1.8 million at Tucson International for security enhancements.

And, we’re paying attention to municipal airports as well. Rehabilitating the runway at Sierra Vista for $6 million. Rehabbing the taxiways at Avi Suquilla for $1.8 million. Taking care of the runway at Taylor for $3.5 million. Fixing the aircraft parking apron at Kingman for $5 million.

There are projects like these all over America that need attention.  In rebuilding our transportation infrastructure, we’re not only creating jobs today, but also laying the foundation for future economic growth.

Aviation is crucial to the mobility of American passengers and goods. I hope the ARRA funds we released to Arizona today make that clear.

Comments

[ben]

I live in Scottsdale Arizona. Sounds like he needs a vacation here. There is no Amtrak service to Phoenix nor any rail to Tucson from Phoenix. The airport they spent millions on is overcrowded and they already have an unused airport to the east waiting for people. They are taking 10 million of this and building a people mover which connects with light rail. They couldn't build with the light rail or provide a stop at the airport. They now must use a bus.
Third most of the stimulus money went to fixing freeways or adding new lanes to freeways. Which we just got done with a 20 year transportation sales tax which did the same thing. We have a new 20 year tax, which adds 56 percent funding for freeways or 9 billion.
Finally on a autocentric note we ran out of rental cars this week, and we already went through our first round of mass transit cuts, with expected fare increases and more cuts at a time of peek ridership and bad economy. The third fare increase since the last increase to the Fed or AZ gas tax in 1992.