Harrisburg, Pennsylvania — An Economic Profile
TRANSPORTATION
MUCH OF THE 18TH CENTURY WESTERN MIGRATION FROM PHILADELPHIA TO THE INTERIOR OF PENNSYLVANIA AND POINTS BEYOND PASSED THROUGH JOHN HARRIS’ FERRY OUTPOST ON THE SUSQUEHANNA RIVER WHERE THE LEBANON AND CUMBERLAND VALLEYS MERGE.
This confluence of natural transportation routes early established Harrisburg as the transportation center it has grown to become. Now the heart of a major interstate highway network with key interchanges each handling over 100,000 vehicles per day, hub of both passenger and freight rail service, and home to a state-of-the-art airport system, Harrisburg is directly accessible — the first requirement to ensure economic growth.
Highways
Capital Beltway. This limited access highway system encircles the inner Harrisburg metropolitan area in its entirety and is comprised of sections of I-83, I-81 and PA 581. Various major U.S. routes, also described below, interchange with the Beltway.
- 1-83. Links Harrisburg to York and Baltimore to the south and is accessed directly to and from Center City. Includes the six lane-wide, John Harris (South) Bridge.
- 1-81. Major eastern U.S. interstate highway running from New York to Tennessee. The route passes across the northern end of the city and has six lanes from the I-83 interchange on the East Shore to an interchange in Cumberland County. At this point, PA 581, a four-lane connector route, links 1-83 via Rt. 581.
- I-78. Splits from I-81 northeast of Harrisburg with direct limited access travel to Allentown, Bethlehem, northern New Jersey and New York City.
- Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-76). Crosses the Susquehanna south of Harrisburg and is easily accessible to the city via I-83 and PA 283 (both limited access). Principal connector to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
- PA 283. Links Harrisburg to Lancaster. Emerges from the complex Eisenhower interchange, located just east of Harrisburg, at which I-83 and PA 322 also converge. PA 322 runs from Harrisburg to nearby Hershey; the location of Hersheypark, Hershey Medical Center and other attractions.
- U.S. 11/15. Connects Harrisburg via its river bridges with Gettysburg and Frederick, MD, and, further along I-270 with Washington DC. Also runs north from Harrisburg through the center of Pennsylvania and as Rt. 15 continues to major cities in western New York State.
- U.S. 22/322. Links Harrisburg with Lewistown, Altoona and State College. Completion of the Dauphin Bypass just north of Harrisburg has allowed for an uninterrupted limited access stretch of this highway from Harrisburg to just east of Lewistown. Its extension into Harrisburg on Cameron Street and intersection with Maclay Street opens a new four-lane widening project along Seventh Street for direct access to the Capital Complex and Center City.
Air
Susquehanna Area Regional Airport Authority (SARAA)
As the owner of the Harrisburg’s two metropolitan area airports (Harrisburg International and Capital City Airports), SARAA represents the culmination of a 20 year effort to divest control of these airports by the Commonwealth to a multi-municipal authority, the creation of which Harrisburg helped to establish. Now, the decision-making process for the operation of these important facilities has been brought to the local level. With representatives from the Cities of Harrisburg and York, the Counties of Dauphin, Cumberland and York and the Townships of Lower Swatara and Fairview, in which the airports are located, SARAA, which took title to the airports in January of 1998, is truly a progressive regional effort geared to maximize the benefits of the airport system to the broader South Central Pennsylvania region as aviation gateways and catalysts for major economic development activity.
Harrisburg International Airport (HIA).
Located eight miles down river from Center City, HIA has grown to a regional air travel facility and is the third-busiest airport in Pennsylvania after Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. The main runway, 9,500 feet in length, was originally designed to accommodate military aircraft when the facility served as an air force base years ago. This runway is much longer than what would be typically required for commercial airports that serve areas the size of Harrisburg.
The 125,000 square foot terminal building, completed in late 1986, has six (6) gates with jetway aircraft boarding capability. An 11-gate commuter concourse, including 27,000 square feet of expanded space for check-in counters, passenger lobby and waiting areas were added in 1990. The airport serves as a model in design and lay out for complexes of its size. Future plans call for the expansion of the terminal with three pier concourses to serve commuter, regional jet and full-size commercial jets as well an expanded loop roadway and parking garage. Also envisioned is an overhead enclosed walkway connecting the new Amtrak Railroad Station, adjacent to the airport on the main Keystone Corridor passenger line, to the planned parking garage. This $6.5 million station will result in a truly multi-modal transportation complex in which passengers leaving aircraft can be swiftly transported to Center City Harrisburg as well as other points. Passenger and cargo airline carriers that serve the airport include:
| Major | Commuter | Cargo |
|---|---|---|
| American Airlines | Air Ontario | Airborne Express |
| Delta Airlines | American Eagle | Emery Worldwide |
| Northwest Airlines | Continental Express | Federal Express |
| United Airlines | Northwest Express | United Parcel Service |
| USAir | United Express | Wiggins |
| USAir Express |
There were 714,851 enplanements and 710,532 deplanements in 1999, up from 586,033 and 580,896, respectively, in 1995. The airport provides domestic non-stop flights to fifteen cities and direct flights to eight cities. International travel to and from Harrisburg is provided by Air Ontario with direct flights to Toronto and through several chartered lines with flights to Europe, Central America and the Caribbean.
In 1999, Airports Council International ranked HIA in the top 20% of the United States’ busiest cargo facilities with a rank of 58th out of 300 airports. Since 1995, the airport has averaged a 12% growth rate in air freight, double the national average of 6%, with a total cargo volume in 1999 of 61,472 tons. This robust growth rate can be greatly attributed to the emergence of the information technology and biomedical manufacturing and distribution industries, requiring time-definite shipping, in the Harrisburg metropolitan area and other south central Pennsylvania communities. In addition, there has been growth in the transport of the region’s heavy freight. As an example, FedEx uses HIA as a non-traditional regional hub with daily flights from Memphis and Indianapolis and two additional flights of cargo shared with Boston Logan and Portland ME international airports supporting expedited, deferred and heavy freight shipments. FedEx, UPS, Airborne Express and Emery Worldwide all operate sort facilities either on or nearby the airport. In response to projected future demand and the needs of the major cargo carriers, the airport is planning a major cargo facilities upgrade over the next several years. This will increase the number of overnight aircraft parking positions as well as cross-dock terminal space from the present 95,000 square feet to 185,000 square feet within the five years.
HIA is about 10 minutes from Center City by limited access routes with a connector highway running from PA 283 directly into the airport roadway system. The airport is also headquarters to the 193rd Pennsylvania Air National Guard, one of only two such state units in the US and one of the most sophisticated air guard units in the World. Its official mission is to “provide, on a moments notice, tactical electronic wartime operations anywhere in the world,” and it is the most deployed Air National Guard unit in the nation.
Capital City Executive Airport (CYX). Built in the 1930s as Harrisburg’s principal airport, the facility is located just south of New Cumberland along the Susquehanna River on Harrisburg’s west shore. Since the establishment of Capital City Executive Airport (CYX) in the mid-1960s as a general aviation facility and reliever to HIA, CYX handles privately owned aircraft for corporations and individuals. The airport is within 10 minutes of Center City Harrisburg.
Although the facility is well serviced by a fixed base operator, the original commercial terminal building, which had been vacant for years, was creatively converted as an adaptive re-use project in 1998 to house the headquarters of a local architectural and engineering firm, Benatec Associates. The airport’s adjacency to the Defense Distribution Depot Susquehanna, one of the largest US Army inventory control centers in the world, further underscores the long term air cargo and general aviation potential of both airports in the SARAA system.
Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ). SARAA, in cooperation with its represented counties and municipalities, is undertaking the establishment of a Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) in and around both airports to assist in the import/export trade of the Harrisburg area. An FTZ provides an economic benefit to import/export companies located within an FTZ. As an economic development incentive, zone status allows for inventory or merchandise which is inside a Zone to be treated as if it were located outside of the United States. Goods can be brought into a Zone without payment of duties and with any Customs duties on those goods being deferred until they enter the commerce of the U.S. If finished goods are then exported, duty payments never have to be made, nor is duty assessed for any value-added process undertaken within a zone, including U.S. components, labor, overhead and profit. If exportation of value-added or assembled foreign products occurs, it does so at a lower cost because Customs duty on foreign components is eliminated completely as the foreign parts never entered the commerce of the U.S.
In addition to planning the FTZ, SARAA has completed a major master planning effort to chart a pathway for physical and operational growth well into the 21st century.
Harrisburg Heliport. The city is pursuing the development of the Harrisburg Downtown Heliport that will be located at N. Seventh and Herr streets. The facility will serve commercial helicopter carriers and will allow service to commute between downtown areas of cities through the mid-Atlantic region.
Rail (Passenger)
Harrisburg is located on the main line of east/west Amtrak passenger service, which operates from the Harrisburg Transportation Center, located in Center City. The facility has been restored as an active passenger station. Harrisburg received the top national award from the U.S. Department of Transportation for the Center’s restoration and preservation.
The ridership at the station was over 269,000 as of year 2000, ranking the facility 23th out of 516 Amtrak stations nationwide. Amtrak operates ten (10) trains to Philadelphia, on the electrified Keystone Line, with six (6) continuing to New York City each workday, including express and commuter lines. The station also accommodates long-distance rail service to Pittsburgh and Chicago. There are sixteen (16) departures from the station each workday.
The Transportation Center is an expected hub for the planned cross-state, high-speed rail line and regional rail commuter transit system. Regarding the latter, the community has launched, through Capital Area Transit, a Major Investment Study to plan for the development of the first phase of this system. Known as Corridor One, the system will link Carlisle with Lancaster with stops at Center City and Harrisburg International Airport; the first of several routes emanating from center city to commuter destinations within the greater metropolitan area.
Rail (Freight)
Harrisburg is also the hub of two major double-stacked, intermodal freight facilities operated by Norfolk Southern since its co-purchase with CSX of the Conrail network. These facilities are the Lucknow Terminal in the northern part of the City, and the Rutherford Terminal in its eastern suburbs.
Under Norfolk Southern’s U.S. rail freight operation, goods can be moved from Harrisburg, due to its central location on the east/west rail corridor, without transfer, directly to major cities in the Midwest for further distribution resulting in lower costs in doing business. Prior to Norfolk Southern, freight transfers from Harrisburg had to be made in Pittsburgh.
The completion of the Norfolk Southern/CSX affiliation has also allowed Canadian Pacific to activate service on heretofore dormant north/south freight lines in Pennsylvania. This further enhances Harrisburg as an important transfer hub for freight between Canada and the Gulf of Mexico.
Bus Service
The local mass-transit bus system is operated by Capitol Area Transit (CAT). The company has a fleet of 67 buses that run on 26 regular routes and four express routes. Service extends as far west as Carlisle, north to Halifax, east to Middletown, and south to Dillsburg. There are 17 park and ride lots throughout the service area to accommodate commuters. The system radiates from the Transfer Center on Market Square in Harrisburg. An average of 7,500 people ride the system daily and 2.1 million, annually. CAT continues to address the changing needs of the community by adding cushioned seats to buses scheduled for longer commutes, purchasing smaller buses for more flexibility, and updating the colors, logo and look of the fleet to improve its image and maintain visibility in the community.
Daily and regularly scheduled direct-line, inter-city bus service is provided by Capitol Trailways and Greyhound Bus Lines, which operate from the Harrisburg Transportation Center, providing service to major northeastern U.S. cities including Washington DC; Baltimore, MD; Philadelphia; Atlantic City, NJ; New York City and Pittsburgh, with local stops en route. The lines also provide same-day package delivery services, which benefits firms located in Center City.
Taxi and Limousine Services. A number of taxi and limousine services operate within Center City and out to the airports. The taxi companies include Penn-Harris Taxi, West Shore Taxi, Yellow Cab and Capital City Cab. There are numerous limousine companies.
