LAFAYETTE — Scott Walker, president and CEO of Greater Lafayette Commerce, said any enhanced or new means of transportation to Greater Lafayette is a boon for local business and industry.
During site selection trips one of the metric companies will use to evaluate a location is access to transportation options.
“Everything they experience as a company when looking for a site location gets factored into their decision. Almost all requests for proposals we see evaluate how far we are from an airport,” Walker said.
For this reason, and several others, commercial air service to the Purdue University Airport could serve to support local industry as well as attract new investors.
Most companies look for a site which is 60 minutes or under from a major airport, which qualifies Lafayette given its proximity tp the Indianapolis International Airport, but having a local service with flights to hubs like Chicago can only help, Walker added.
Bringing commercial air service to Greater Lafayette is cheaper, Walker said, than, for example, bringing high speed rail.
“Years ago when Europe and Japan and other parts of the world started investing in high speed rail we just were not doing that in the US,” Walker said. “I think we missed the boat on that.”