Murtha Airport .Airport to nowhere
Throughout his terms in Congress the king of Pork ;Jack Murtha has managed to secure $150 million for an airport that averages 30 passangers a day .There are 18 flights per week, and all go to Dulles Airport in Washington DC. This is the John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport in Johnstown, Pa. The cost of the flight to Washington is $400 . By contrast to drive from Johnsontown to DC is about 3-4 hours and perhaps a large tank of gas.
The airport has a state of the art $8.5 million taxpayer built radar that has never been used ;and a $17 million runway tarmac. It just got $800,000 bucket list funding to repave a secondary runway .
Quote:
In December, Murtha made a direct appeal to the Federal Aviation Administration to fund the runway project. The request was rejected. At the time, the airport did not meet FAA criteria for funding because the facility had fewer than 10,000 passengers.
But earlier this year, the FAA notified Murtha airport officials the facility had been approved for stimulus funding. The FAA said Murtha did not request the stimulus money.
FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said Murtha airport received stimulus money because it was "shovel-ready." It "met all of the requirements for the use of the stimulus money," Brown said.
Remote Murtha airport lands big bucks from Washington - CNN.com
Being in congress has it's perks. If he could've gotten away with it he could've flown one of them brand new congressional jets into his own private airport. If the Murtha airport were not there he would have to have the inconvenience to be driven in a limo 2 hrs into Pittsburg to fly to and from there... or drive to DC himself.
