"Budget woes put parts of BWI expansion on hold"

Tuesday, September 24, 2002

Budget woes put parts of BWI expansion on hold
By Scott Graham
The Baltimore (MD) Business Journal


While Baltimore/Washington International Airport leaders show off
projects nearly complete, other parts of the airport's planned $1.8
billion expansion are tied up in the state's budget woes. 

Paul Wiedefeld, executive director of the Maryland Aviation
Administration told members of the BWI Business Partnership on Tuesday
that he does not know when construction on the highly anticipated
airport people-mover will begin and end. The project, Wiedefeld said, is
competing with other state projects for dollars that already are spread
thin. 

State elected officials said last week that Maryland still has a budget
shortfall of nearly $500 million. A similar shortfall last year resulted
in a state hiring freeze and some budget cuts to state agencies. 

"In reality, the financial condition of the state has changed" since the
BWI expansion was approved two years ago, said Wiedefeld, who was named
the state's aviation chief earlier this year. "So, I can't say exactly
when that project [the people-mover] will be complete." 

The people-mover is part of an 8,400-space parking garage and planned
intermodal transportation center that would bring together MARC, Amtrak
and light rail trains, buses and other shuttles. 

Meanwhile, construction on other planned BWI projects either is
complete, nearing completion or is expected to be finished by the end of
next year. 

Finished is a $14 million, 3,000-space tenant parking lot near the
airport's access road. Another 3,000 spaces in the new daily parking
garage should open by November 2002, with the entire 8,400 spaces
opening by November 2003. 

Improvements to the terminal access road are expected to be finished by
November of next year, while changes to the terminal roadway and
skywalks are about four years away from completion. All terminal road
improvements are expected to cost about $125 million. 

The off-campus consolidated rental car facility is scheduled for a
November 2003 completion.


 Do you have an opinion about this story?
Share it with other readers in our CAA Discussion Forums

http://www.californiaaviation.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?conf=DCConfID8

*****************************************