Mineta Transportation Institute's report gives funding guidance and recommends policy changes.
SAN JOSE – The Mineta Transportation Institute has released its newest peer-reviewed research report, Collaborative Funding to Facilitate Airport Ground Access. The research team examined the range of funding sources that have been used for intermodal airport ground access projects and then developed guidance material for project planners. The team also recommended changes to federal and state policies and funding allocation procedures. The principal investigator was Geoffrey Gosling, Ph.D., working with Wenbin Wei, Ph.D., and Dennis Freeman, MUP.
“Airports are major interchange nodes for passenger and freight transportation. Here, local and regional transportation systems interface with those for national and international air travel and air freight,” said Dr. Gosling. “However, funding projects to improve the intermodal connectivity between the surface transportation system and airports is often complicated by the need to draw on a range of different funding programs and sources. Each has its own project eligibility requirements and regulations that limit the type and location of projects that can be funded. This report recommends an approach to develop funding strategies for such projects that would involve a broad range of stakeholder agencies in planning and implementing the project.”
The researchers reviewed the literature on planning and funding these types of projects and examined the range of federal, state and local funding programs and sources that have been, or could be, used to fund them. They then examined and documented past experience on collaborative funding of these projects through seven case studies. These included a major intermodal transportation center, automated people-mover links to regional rail systems, airport access roadways, and extensions of regional rail systems to airports.
While the exact mix and proportion of funding sources will vary with the nature and scale of the project, implementing a multi-agency, multi-program funding strategy will require a broad regional consensus on the project’s importance, the report says.
Dr. Gosling noted, “Development of funding strategies should consider opportunities for public-private partnerships that can provide access to private-sector funding, including ways to provide sufficient return on investment for private-sector partners.”
Projects could be facilitated by greater flexibility in the regulations governing federal Airport Improvement Program and Passenger Facility Charge funds to allow their use for ground access projects located off the airport that provide needed enhancements to airport access.
Many states have taken a strong policy position on developing improved intermodal connections within the transportation system. It may be helpful for these states to create a funding program specifically structured to support the development of intermodal connections and improved intermodal coordination. Where local transportation funding programs result from ballot measures that specify the projects to be funded, agencies with an interest in improving airport ground access should pursue opportunities to include such projects in those programs.
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