By Christopher Boan for Tucson Local Media
Members of the Tucson business community celebrated recent corporate recruiting wins and called for a major upgrade of Tucson International Airport at Sun Corridor’s annual luncheon.
The September 12th luncheon honored the Southern Arizona-based business incubator’s efforts to drive economic development.
Sun Corridor CEO Joe Snell threw out the day’s biggest news at the tail end of the festivities, unveiling the Corridor’s Tucson International Airport 2019 Blueprint.
The blueprint includes establishing a new passenger terminal, building a limited access expressway that will link the location, which is on 600 acres of unused land adjacent to the current premises, to Interstate 10.
The blueprint also includes plans to evaluate the efficiency of an east-west rail line to connect the open land south of the airport to the Port of Tucson.
Snell alluded to the blueprint in his remarks, saying the move will help Tucson stay competitive with similarly sized cities across the country.
“We recognize that we need a very bold long-term strategic plan, or a blueprint if you will, if we’re going to capture true long-term economic success at the airport,” Snell said. “So, nearly a year ago we launched their airport blueprint process, which is a fancy term for a long-term strategic plan at the airport. And the effort has involved countless hours of research and the involvement of hundreds of stakeholders throughout the region.”
Snell cautioned that such a bold move would be needed to keep the region afloat economically, should the country encounter a recession in the next few years.
Embracing such a bold vision for the city’s lone passenger airport would allow Tucson to continue to attract business to the area, Snell said, while benefiting those that have recently flocked here at the same time.
Snell said the organization’s bold vision for the future needs to be met with enthusiasm from city residents and business owners, if Tucson is going to stay competitive in the future.
Read more at Tucson Local Media.