LEON COUNTY
AIRPORT GATEWAY PROJECT
Gateway to a Bright Future
Roadwork expected to stimulate investment on Tallahassee’s south side story by AL KRULICK
T
he Airport Gateway Project is a multimillion, multimodal transportation network that, when complete in 2030, will connect the Tallahassee International Airport, downtown Tallahassee, the area’s colleges and universities, and Innovation Park, the city’s research and development district. It will include some seven miles of improved roadway and over 13 miles of new sidewalks, trails and bicycle lanes. It will also enhance both traffic and pedestrian safety while featuring improved aesthetics for residents, businesses and visitors. “The Tallahassee International Airport is in the southern part of Tallahassee and Leon County, and it doesn’t have the best access today to our universities and downtown,” said city manager Reese Goad. “That’s been a need for many, many years. Now, we have the opportunity to connect all of these resources.” The Airport Gateway Project is being managed by the Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency, a special body that was created in 2000 to implement projects that are funded by a one-cent sales tax. The levy has been subjected to a referendum vote more
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than once and, most recently, was reauthorized through 2040. “Blueprint is under the vision and direction of the Intergovernmental Agency Board, which comprises all the city commissioners and mayor, and all the county commissioners,” explained Blueprint director, Autumn Calder. “They approve the projects and give direction on their implementation. My job is to implement the Blueprint infrastructure projects.” Calder works with a staff of 27 people and also hires consultants to help with planning concepts, project design and the permitting process leading up to the hiring of construction contractors. Twelve percent of revenue generated by the penny tax goes to economic development projects and programs overseen by the Office of Economic Vitality. Calder cited a close relationship between large-scale infrastructure projects and the work of OEV. “We recognize that when we make these infrastructure improvements in the community, the private sector responds,” she said. “Cascade Park, built in 2014, was a $35 million project; immediately following its
opening there was private sector development of over $350 million. So we were able to see a tenfold impact from an infrastructure project that otherwise might not have occurred. It used to be a fenced-off brownfield, and now it’s one of the biggest attractions and destinations in the community.” “We know that private investment follows public investment,” Goad echoed Calder. “There’s already a lot of speculative interest in terms of people wanting to invest in and around the airport but also along the corridors.