By Matt Fogleson
The Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization means lots of funding and more certainty for civil engineers on projects related to airports.
But that's not all that's in the law that President Joe Biden signed on May 16. Here's what else it means for the profession:
- An emphasis on supporting innovation, which could eventually mean an improvement of the D+ grade the aviation sector received in ASCE’s 2021 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. “This reauthorization supports new innovative technologies that we weren’t even talking about in ’20 when we wrote this last report card,” said Tor Anderzen, P.E., F.ASCE, a community planner and the incoming director of ASCE Region 8. “So this bill does address some of that.”
- An effort to combat a shortage of air traffic controllers by setting a hiring target of the maximum number of people who can be trained at the FAA Academy.
- Requiring the FAA to work with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to assess the resiliency of coastal and flood-prone areas. Airport owners also must work with local and state agencies on the impacts of hazardous weather. Amiy Varma, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE, chair of ASCE’s Aviation Council, though, would like for seismic resilience to have been emphasized too.
- Allowing more categorical exclusions under rules outlined in the National Environmental Policy Act. This will cut down the environmental review process for projects with well-known impacts and expedite such projects.
- Requiring the FAA to operationalize programs under the Next Generation Air Transportation System program by the end of 2025. Implementation has gone slower than intended for NextGen, which launched in 2007 to modernize the national airspace system.
- Eliminating a “cliff” in Airport Improvement Program funding that was detrimental to smaller general aviation airports. Previously, airports with fewer than 10,000 enplanements in a year received $150,000 in AIP funding, no matter how close to 10,000 they came. Those reaching 10,000 were guaranteed at least $1 million. The reauthorization raises the guarantee for those with 10,000 to $1.3 million and replaces the cliff for those below the figure with a sliding scale. It’s a “a huge improvement for those airports below the edge,” Anderzen says.
- Shifting a higher percentage of AIP funds to general aviation airports. Previously, 20% of these funds were guaranteed to such airports. The reauthorization boosts that figure to 25%.
- Doubling AIP supplemental funding – from $100 million annually to $200 million – to support airport resilience and runway safety projects.
- Extending the BEYOND program, which relates to unmanned aircraft systems. The legislation directs the FAA to implement a comprehensive drone integration strategy, including guidance on implementing vertiport design. This will become essential as drones and air taxis become part of our multimodal transportation, as depicted in ASCE’s latest IMAX movie Cities of the Future.
- Establishing operating procedures for testing high-speed flights, which for the most part ceased with the grounding of the Concorde fleet more than 20 years ago. The advent of SpaceX and similar companies has revived interest. “This reauthorization opens up that door again to hypersonic and supersonic flight,” Anderzen says.
This article is published by Civil Engineering Online.
