Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport (SPI) is a civil-military facility and a nonhub primary commercial service facility that serves civil and military aircraft.
In 2020, SPI completed terminal and checkpoint expansions, along with Americans with Disabilities improvements, funded by nearly $7 million from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Improvement Program. The following year, state funding allowed the airport authority to upgrade its north airport public parking lot and the roadway running north of the facility, in addition to constructing a crosswind runway to replace an older runway.
To help SPI establish itself as a smart airport of the future, Hanson is leading the Springfield Airport Authority’s smart airport and regional logistics planning project. The plan addresses how to improve the airport’s economic viability and environment by adopting new technology, enhancing high-tech employment, establishing regional surface transportation synergies and improving the airport’s and surrounding communities’ commercial and industrial development potential.
The plan unites transportation, logistics and asset inventory data with the planning information from the full range of state, local and regional planning sources. Hanson has collected data on available air and surface transportation, regional logistics and economic development plans, asset inventory and emerging technologies. Hanson is analyzing and coordinating the data to develop implementable plans for the airport and region. The smart airport plan will support local land-use decisions while enhancing multimodal transportation connectivity. When complete, it can be used to inform and improve local and regional transportation plans.
The project includes an airport asset management plan, an advanced air mobility plan, an aviation and nonaviation industrial development airport cities plan, an airport and regional logistics plan and additional analysis to address the needs identified during the study. The results will include implementable plans for each of the four main planning categories: recommended best practices, technological improvements, marketing plans and necessary capital improvements.
The plans, collected data, analyses and recommended best practices will be available for the Illinois Department of Transportation to use for any public transportation improvement purpose.
Hanson helped SPI secure an Illinois Statewide Planning and Research grant for the project.
SPI has also developed six solar arrays that offset over 90% of the electrical costs to three airport and three tenant accounts. The airport is developing a second phase for its solar farm to offset the costs of more than 90% of the balance of the airport accounts and exploring options for providing the electrical power needed for the future new-technology aircraft.
