INDIANA STATE AVIATION SYSTEM PLAN (IASP)

The State of Indiana is home to more than 115 public-use airports in the state; the Indiana State Aviation System Plan (ISASP) provides the framework for developing the 69 airports identified as having particular significance to the state. The mission for these specific airports is to provide Indiana’s population and businesses with reasonably convenient access to air transportation.

With teaming partners Mead & Hunt and Engaging Solutions, Woolpert launched the plan by categorizing the airports according to the FAA classifications of primary, national, regional, local and basic. The project team then inventoried the airports and assessed their performances. Next, we projected based aircraft and annual operations through market-share or micro-level forecasts from individual airport master plans. Funding needs were documented, compared to the predicted available funding and used to identify funding gaps. Finally, Woolpert developed macro-level, system-wide recommendations for INDOT in support of the INDOT mission to “plan, build, maintain and operate a superior transportation system enhancing safety, mobility and economic growth.”

For the ISASP to be useful and implementable, a one-size-fits-all approach simply would not work. Therefore, the Woolpert team offered a simple classification system of five role categories with, for the first time in Indiana, requirements and recommendations for each category. The ISASP includes Level 1 mini­mum-service requirements (based on roles and users served) as well as the infrastructure that should ideally be available to make the plan both goal oriented and achievable in the field. The Woolpert team also developed macro-level, system-wide recommendations for INDOT based on the results of the system inventory and analysis and guided by the system’s core principles and goals.