While most people think of the Utah Department of Transportation only concerning itself with roads, in reality the agency also deals with many other kinds of transportation infrastructure, including airports.
“We’re a transportation entity. We’re not just roads, we’re not just paving highways” said Clint Harper who works with UDOT as the Aeronautics Business Development Manager and Transportation Planner for the agency. ‘We’re a whole transportation agency. Even some people in UDOT didn’t know there was an aeronautics division.”
His background in aeronautics goes back 20 years to the U.S. Air Force, where he began his service in the navigation, communication and targeting systems on A-31 Gunships. He served five deployments while in the military including his last one in Iraq. Six years later, he moved into airfield management, operations and planning, which led to his interest in economic development, and eventually to a degree in planning. After retiring from the military and moving back to Utah, Harper got a degree in Urban Ecology. He has a Master’s Degree in City Metropolitan Planning.
On June 21 he spoke to the Castle Country Business Expansion and Retention (BEAR) general board meeting about airports and what they can mean to rural communities.
His outlook on airports and what they provide and could mean to a community goes much deeper than most peoples thought processes. He said that too often airports are segregated from the main center of business in an area and they are often relegated to the far extremities of the community.
“We’re not seeing the potential we get from the airport,” he stated. And particularly in rural areas there is no transport service from airports to the towns they serve.
He said airports have innovated the supply chain, but that focus has been on large metro areas and large global businesses. He said he recently reached out and started a discussion on how to work smaller rural airports into the overall system and max out their potential. In doing so his office has initiated a statewide airport economic impact study in conjunction with Utah State Continuous Airport System Planning (UCASP). He said that documents involving the information have existed for many years but are incomplete and have not focused on economic development. He said UCASP focuses on a transportation plan that’s a model of what the future should look like and what facilities will be needed to meet coming demands. It is very aviation-focused and correlated with population growth.
“We want to tell a story and engage our stakeholders– the economic development people,” said Harper.
He noted they started the project by engaging and getting input from the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED), the State Economic Development Corporation, the State Office of Tourism and the the State Office of Workforce Development.
“Now we are reaching out to local Associations of Government, and their economic development divisions,” he told the group. A number of members of the Southeastern Utah Association of Local Governments (SEUALG) were in the audience and he spoke directly to them. He challenged them to think about how the local airport can serve as a stimulant to economic development.
“We’re going to come back and talk to you again and at that point, we want you to have some ideas, some vision,” he noted. “We want to align our strategic goals with the strategic goals of the economic development districts.”
Harper explained when a large employer comes to a region, they’re not driving down to the local area, they’re coming in on their corporate jets or planes. And the local airport is essential to them to conduct their business. Because of that, a community needs to have some kind of transportation to bridge home to the airport and the airport to the center of economic activity in the area. Harper said passenger service depends entirely on the demand. Transportation service from the smaller Utah airports has consisted of a “loaner car,” which has primarily been available to pilots. For the car rental agencies to set up shop at an airport they need a consistent demand to establish a business. He said that taxi services in some places have been intermittent and expensive. He also noted that some communities have a pool of volunteers who are available to provide transportation, with a central phone number posted at the airport. Uber may also be an option as well.
“The airport is the front door for a lot of big employers,” he said.
Harper stated that the technology for unmanned aerial systems, “is coming on quick,” with drone technology on the cusp of a breakthrough. In New Zealand and many Asian countries drone delivery is already done on a large scale and that the University of Utah has received a $100 million grant to start looking at how to install the infrastructure for an air traffic management system that will enable drone medical deliveries from the university to the airports in the smaller communities. He said patience will be needed as the two-year study proceeds, with the goal being that of economic development and return on investment.
“Every decision we make has to advance those goals,” he stated. “Right now we’re just trying to develop the scope of the study.”
After the scope of the study is determined, local input, ideas and innovation will be needed.
Recent legislation on transportation has kind of shaken up things at the state, said Harper. Senate Bill 136 was passed during the 2018 Regular Session of the Legislature and was signed by the governor. Among other changes, it amends and enacts provisions to allow local jurisdictions to share property tax revenue for transportation capital development projects.
“Right now, leadership is kinda saying, ‘give us all your ideas,’” he stated.
Possibilities for the expanded use of airports and what is already going on at some airports is diverse. Recreation has been suggested as one economic development tool. Activities such as flying sailplane gliders, hang-gliding or paragliding, winged-suit flying are all listed as possible ideas to boost economic impact.
In addition, fire fighters and outfitters also have a presence at rural airports as well.
County airport seen as economic driver
Plane Window web