Senator McCain Adds His Support to Tucson Aerospace Pkwy for Raytheon

By: Mike Sunnucks, Senior Reporter at Phoenix Business Journal

On Friday, The Phoenix Business Journal reported that U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said he is working with Pima County officials on an access road project near Tucson International Airport, known as the Tucson Aerospace Parkway, that will keep Raytheon Missile Systems (RMS) from moving jobs to Alabama.

Raytheon has approximately 9,600 employees in Tucson, said company spokesman John Patterson and said RMS has 14,000 nationwide.

Patterson said the roadway is necessary to create a buffer zone with TIA and give Raytheon space to grow its Tucson-based missile division. He would not go as far as McCain in saying without the new access road and buffer/expansion area that Raytheon would move Arizona jobs to Alabama.

Other aerospace or high-wage jobs could also be located in the new area created by the access road and buffer zone with TIA.

McCain said he is working with the defense contractor and Tucson-area officials on a roadway project that allows room for a new runway at Tucson International Airport and gives Raytheon room to grow at its Arizona campus. The airport access road will be called Aerospace Parkway.

Without the project, McCain worries Raytheon will move jobs and expansions to its plant in Alabama.

Raytheon opened a new missile plant in Huntsville, Alabama in 2012. Patterson said the site was chosen over dozens over other locations including in Arizona.

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Editor’s note: Alabama is one of only two states showing jumps of more than 1,000 jobless claims for February. Georgia handled 2,840 jobless benefits claims, while Alabama processed 1,323. Those applying for jobless claims in the U. S. last week dropped. The latest numbers from the Labor Department show claims fell 11% to 289,000. The number from the week before was revised up by 5,000 to 325,000. The U.S. unemployment remains at 5.5%, and falling 0.1% in February. Follow this link to see the full report from the U.S. Department of Labor.