by Brad Peck

Janet Kavinoky posted to the National Journal’s Transportation Experts blog yesterday:

There are thousands of “ready to go” transit, highway, aviation, water, and other infrastructure projects worth tens of billions of dollars awaiting funding. Many of these projects could be initiated in the short run to preserve and create jobs and generate economic activity.  So the U.S. Chamber believes that investment in ready-to-go projects should be a key component of any stimulus package.

Which garnered some great input from the AOPA's Craig Fuller who emailed us with:

The problem with infrastructure, as Governor Rendell noted in his comments to the Chamber, is that it isn’t sexy. It’s woven so tightly into the fabric of everyday life that no one notices it until, like fabric, it tears. An interstate bridge collapses in Minneapolis. A maritime channel is blocked. An air traffic control facility suffers a communications blackout.

So the aviation community welcomes the spotlight the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has chosen to shine on the issue.

On the same day that the Chamber unveiled its policy recommendations for addressing infrastructure problems, The Road to U.S. Economic Growth, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association joined eleven other aviation groups in sending a letter to congressional leaders in both Houses and on both sides of the aisle, urging them to make improvements in aviation infrastructure an integral part of any economic stimulus package.

In the letter, the groups suggest that if Congress were to include the aviation sector in its economic stimulus packages, more than 40,000 high-paying jobs would be created, aviation safety would be improved, and there would be positive effects for the environment.

The aviation organizations proposed that the current Airport Improvement Program (AIP) receive an additional $1 billion in funding. There are improvement projects that would increase the utility and safety of the country’s vital community airports that could go to contract within 30 days if the money were available. Many of these individual projects have relatively small price tags, but could have big and lasting effects on local economies.

Included in the industry’s recommendations is funding that could accelerate adoption and implementation of the badly needed modernization of air traffic control. That, in turn, could lead to more efficient routing, meaning better use of capacity, and coincidentally reduced emissions due to shorter flights.

The entire aviation industry – airlines and general aviation alike – are feeling the pain of the current economic downturn like everyone else. Including the aviation infrastructure in an economic stimulus package would have immediate and far-reaching impact, and would have benefits that reach beyond the economy alone.