TRANSPORTATION CONSTRUCTION & LOGISTICS OVERVIEW
Thomas Jewsbury Airport Director St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport
How did the challenges of 2020 affect the airport’s operations? We finished 2019 with 2.4 million passengers, continuing to break records year over year. Going into January and February 2020, we continued to see that upturn. Then, like the entire industry, we saw it fall out from under us thereafter. Immediately, we put in the measures universally encouraged: extra cleaning, social distancing, trying to create a safe environment for those passengers who were continuing to travel, as well as for the sake of our employees. Without knowing what the rest of our year would look like, we used the opportunity to take a look at our budget and capital improvement program, what to scale back, while also thinking about what the recovery would look like. We were in a good financial position, confident that we’d get through the crisis, and we did. Extension Project through the state’s New Starts Transit Program. With a competitive Downtown in mind, the project includes the modernization of the operational 2.7-mile TECO streetcar line as well as a 1.3-mile fixed guideway extension. Despite Tampa Bay’s ambitious plans, funding remains a prevalent issue that further puts back the area’s transportation infrastructure pipeline. Hillsborough County’s one-cent transportation surtax to fund transit transport, an All for Transportation citizen group-led initiative, was passed in 2018 by Hillsborough County voters. As of January 2021, the tax had raised more than $450 million, yet the entities entitled to use those resources cannot touch them because the tax has been challenged as illegal and is now in the hands of the Florida Supreme Court. The funds will remain locked until the court announces its decision in the matter The uncertainty related to the surtax funds has not discouraged the development of innovative solutions to transportation issues, however. In November 2020, the Clearwater City Council greenlit a study meant for a two-mile gondola system, for example.
Has the airport achieved its maximum potential for growth? We have a great investment opportunity for the community. We have 130 acres at this airport that is currently unused. The area was previously a golf course. What is significant about it is that it is, in fact, the largest piece of undeveloped land in Pinellas County. We’re working with our economic development team to strategize, site plan and determine what this development can look like. In the next couple of years, that’s going to provide a great opportunity for development, both aeronautical and non-aeronautical. What are your main near-term goals and priorities? For the short term, we’re going into our budget plan for FY22 and trying to make the necessary financial projections, to see what they look like and what the recovery might be. We’re being very cautious as far as expenditures. Where can we find efficiencies? What will our future construction plans look like? www.capitalanalyticsassociates.com
| 97
