Denver International Airport turned 15 years old over the weekend. A milestone for sure for a facility that had a difficult time in development and construction, and that many critics even predicted would never open or go belly-up financially within 18 months. But what was on the news about it? Cupcakes.
Gov. Bill Ritter has approved distribution of 50 grants worth $5.7 million to Colorado airports and one aviation association under a program administered by the CDOT’s Division of Aeronautics. The grants will leverage local and federal dollars, bringing the total value to $95.67 million for projects ranging from runway lighting improvements to runway maintenance and construction.
The Colorado Department of Transportation has put 40 highway and airport projects totaling $136.8 million on its wish list for federal grants in 2011.
DIA Media Release: Four million passengers in December push Denver International Airport to second-busiest year ever; yearly passenger total tops 50 million for only the second time.
The Denver Post reports that the average domestic airfare out of Denver plunged nearly 35 percent between the third quarters of 2000 and 2009, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
In just a year’s time — between the third quarters of 2008 and 2009 — Denver’s airfares fell 16 percent.
In comparison, the U.S. average domestic airfare dropped 9 percent between the third quarters of 2000 and 2009 and 14.4 percent between the third quarters of 2008 and 2009. Bureau records show it was the biggest year-to-year decline on record.
The Hill reports that President Barack Obama has yet to back a $500 billion transportation bill that Democrats plan to move early this year.
During a closed-door session with the entire House Democratic Caucus, Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.), the chief sponsor of the transportation reauthorization measure, pressed Obama to back his bill funding road, rail and transit projects.
Obama, according to Oberstar and other lawmakers, didn’t make any specific commitments on infrastructure and transportation spending, but he listed infrastructure projects among his priorities.
This U.S. 85 bridge in Douglas County is one of the 124 poor-rated bridges on the list to be replaced with the controversial FASTER auto fee increases. Some opponents will try to repeal the new revenue in 2010.
Follow the money, and you’ll find most of the Top Ten Transportation Stories of 2009.
The transportation funding crisis and the difficult efforts to establish a sustainable annual program are at the foundation of many of the important transportation infrastructure stories.
From Washington to Colfax and Sherman, to your closest light rail station, the disruption to programs caused by the volatility of transportation funding dominated the stories of 2009 – one of the worst economic years in generations.
The entire staff at Inside Lane, together with his wife, Harriet, reviewed the major stories to come up with this list for your consideration.
At the National Journal Online, transportation stakeholders including contractors, engineers, truckers, public interest advocates, aviation experts and planners, respond to the question “What have we learned from the Recovery Act?”
With President Obama proposing a jobs bill that could include a second stimulus for transportation projects, read what the experts say we’ve learned from the first round.
DIA Press Release
Denver International Airport recorded 4,101,004 passengers in October, a 1.3-percent decline from the 4,154,517 travelers who passed through the facility in the same month last year. Despite the small monthly drop, it was the third-busiest October ever at the Denver airport.
“We continue to be encouraged by the relatively small decline in our traffic,” Aviation Manager Kim Day said Friday. “Because of the sagging economy and the resulting cuts in airline capacity, we had expected we’d see a 2 to 2.5 percent drop in passengers from last year. And that’s where it looks like we will end 2009.”
Year to date through October, passenger traffic at DIA totaled 42,436,235. That was down 2.4 percent from the 43,492,803 travelers who used the facility during the same period of 2008.
DIA handled 49,952 flight operations in October, a decline of 1.0 percent from the same month of last year. For the first 10 months of 2009, DIA’s operations totaled 512,545, 2.8 percent below the 527,163 operations recorded in the same period of last year.
The complete traffic report will be available on DIA’s Web site by following this link:
http://www.flydenver.com/diabiz/stats/traffic/index.asp
The Journal of Commerce reports that Rep. Dan Lipinski, an Illinois Democrat, has urged President Obama to drop White House opposition to the House’s $500 billion, six-year transportation reauthorization.
“Boosting transportation funding right now offers both the short-term benefit of quickly creating jobs and the long-term benefit of enhancing the fast, safe and efficient transportation of people and goods,” Lipinski, a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, wrote to Obama.
The administration favors an 18-month extension of the 2005 reauthorization. Go to the Journal of Commerce to see the entire article.
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