PIT’s New Terminal Drives Opportunity for All

When the new Pittsburgh International Airport opens later this year it will be a testament to opportunity for our region – both in how it was constructed and as a symbol of the new Pittsburgh and Allegheny County of today. 

During my first year in office, I’ve focused on creating opportunities for everyone in Allegheny County and our region. I’m proud of what the leadership at the Allegheny County Airport Authority has achieved and how they’ve built the billion-dollar project with a focus on our region’s future.

More than 90 percent of the supplies and thousands of workers on the project came from our region. The airport has highlighted many of those workers’ stories over the past year as well as the impact to local businesses on its Blue Sky News page and social media. The new terminal project has created a $2.5 billion economic impact for the region. From companies like Waller Corp. to Mascaro Construction to local artisans’ designs, the new terminal is having a massive economic impact. 

At the same time, the airport has used the project as an opportunity to train the workers of tomorrow. The airport’s PIT2Work program administered in conjunction with Partner4Work and Introduction to the Construction Trades saw nearly 100 graduates in its first year. The pre-apprenticeship training program celebrated its one-year anniversary last August and uses the new terminal project, in part, as an opportunity to learn construction trades. 

For the participants, who come from six Western Pennsylvania counties, it means much more than a new career. For PIT2Work graduate Devin Hale it meant a better job to support his family and a career as a member of the International Union of Operating Engineers. Hale is working on the new PIT terminal construction site, the very place where his new career through PIT2Work began.

The economic impact, of course, stretches beyond individual workers and includes local businesses as well – including several members of the Pittsburgh Technology Council such as S&B USA and Solutions4Networks. 

All of it is important to helping drive our regional economy. But from an even broader perspective, the new terminal – with its focus on Nature, Technology and Community – is representative of the thriving region of today, not a relic of the past. 

Yes, the new facility means operational dollar savings, shorter walk times to gates, an expanded security checkpoint, more parking and faster baggage delivery among numerous other benefits. It’s also more than that. The airport is the region’s front door to millions of visitors annually – from someone arriving on a business trip and scouting locations for their company’s development, to potential college students touring our region’s many higher education opportunities. 

When they arrive, they’ll see a facility representative of our region’s natural beauty, of our region’s tech prowess and our region’s sense of community. When this region welcomes thousands of visitors next year for the NFL Draft, they will pass through our region’s new gateway. 

Our region can be proud that our new front door is helping to drive that opportunity. It stems from the workers themselves, like Devin Hale, to the expanding businesses benefitting from those key contract opportunities. 

I’m always optimistic about our region moving forward. In the shadow of our new terminal, I’m even more so today.