What would it be like if the topic of air travel in the north state went from “You can’t get there from here” to “It all starts from here”?
There are two main reasons we don’t currently have better air service here: 1. The Redding and Chico markets are each too small. 2. Most of us live close enough to the Sacramento airport (SMF) that we can drive there in a few hours.
So, what can we do?
We can finally build a new highway (called the 99 Expressway or 99X) from existing SR-99 near the Tehama/Butte County line that connects to I-5 near Corning. This would better link Chico to I-5 and combine the Redding-Chico air travel markets and pave the way to locate a new airport near that future SR-99/I-5 connection.
Together, the population of the Redding-Chico market is more than 25 percent greater than the Medford market. The Medford airport had over 10 times as many enplanements (boardings) as the Redding airport in 2012.
The new Tehama-Butte-Shasta (TBS) Regional Airport would be an easy 20-30 minutes from Chico, while only 40-50 minutes along I-5 to Redding. That beats a 5-hour round trip to Sacramento from Redding or a 3-hour round trip from Chico.
Building TBS Regional Airport would mean Redding (RDD) and Chico (CIC) would lose their commercial air service. Chico already lost their commercial air service in December 2014, and 80 – 90 percent of Redding air travelers are already going somewhere else. Both airports could remain and operate as they do today, with only commercial air travel relocated to TBS.
The 99 Expressway would be a two-lane, 8-mile long expressway with no driveways that can expand to four-lane divided, and ultimately become a full freeway decades later, similar to SR-44 between Airport Road and Millville Plains Road, east of Redding.
Funding shares for 99X could be divided between the various agencies that would benefit from the new highway. State funding would total the largest percentage, while local agencies could divide up the rest. Together, the cost shares for Tehama, Butte, and Shasta County would vary based on their benefits.
Local agencies could take over old SR-99 once a new, shorter 99X alignment is built. All the interregional truck traffic will move onto the new 99X – substantially reducing maintenance costs on both South Avenue and the old SR-99.
The 99X and TBS Projects are Green
The new 99X project will save drivers almost four miles per one way trip versus using South Avenue. The savings add up fast: 1 million vehicle miles saved every six weeks. That’s the equivalent to two trips to the moon and back every six weeks.
If TBS airport could “capture” 75 percent of the Redding market and 50 percent of the Chico market via 99X, air travelers would save an additional 2 million vehicle miles every six weeks.
Together, building 99X combined with TBS adds up to 3 million vehicle miles saved every six weeks. Over 40-years, that’s more than 1 (b) billion miles saved, plus nearly 500 thousand tons of CO2 saved.
Best guess estimates for TBS Regional Airport range from $180 – $200 million or so, based on a similar sized all-new airport that opened in 2011 in St. George, Utah. The St. George airport cost $159 million, with nearly 80 percent funded by Federal Aviation Administration grants.
What about the airlines?
Currently, airlines such as Delta, Alaska, and, to a lesser extent United, sell relatively few tickets in the north state compared to Southwest Airlines in Sacramento. Those airlines could take customers away from Southwest if TBS could offer reliable connections at a fair price (with free parking) to at least four major hub airports like Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO), Denver (DEN), and Salt Lake City (SLC).
Now what?
Get started now on studies to build the 99X project and start lining up support to build TBS Regional Airport. What would it be like if we could get construction started on both projects within a decade?
Dale Widner has an idea about how to the north state can have successful air travel.
Dale Widner graduated from the University of Colorado,-Denver. He’s been a civil engineer for 26 years, has been married for 37 years and has lived in Redding since 1988. He has four children, 10 grandchildren and is a long-time youth baseball coach.
