COLUMNS

JOHN F. FLOYD COMMENTARY: Airport project has promise, but full disclosure needed from GAA

John F. Floyd
Contributor

Gadsden Airport Authority member Jonathan M. Welch announced a project to extend the main runway at the Northeast Alabama Regional Airport to 11,000 feet. 

Welch said, “The expansion will allow the (Alabama National) Guard to significantly expand its presence at the airport and will expand the airport’s ability to service air freight operations.”  

This is, in and of itself, a great project. I have suggested in my columns that we have someone city government talk to Federal Express, the United States Postal Service and United Parcel Service about utilization of the Gadsden airport for package operations. The Gadsden Airport Authority is to be congratulated for its foresight and effort. 

There will be many hurdles to overcome before the project can begin, however. First and foremost, the Gadsden airport doesn’t have enough land to expand the airport runway number 36/18 by 4,208 feet in either direction, east or west. Same goes for the secondary runway number 6/24 by 4,800 feet running north to south. To expand runway 36/18 by 4,208 feet will require the condemnation or acquisition of private property. 

I have to assume in constructing the new runway for heavy aircraft, the old runway must be modified or re-constructed to conform to the load limit requirements of heavy aircraft. Therefore, this project is a multi-multi-million-dollar effort and the plans will be heavily scrutinized by the federal government. Just the movement of dirt will be in the millions. 

But I am sure the GAA has addressed these problems and has a solution in its feasibility study, which has yet to be shared with Gadsden’s taxpayers. I’ve heard this project has been languishing at City Hall for a number of years, so the associated encumbrances should already have been addressed. 

For the project to be approved by the military, the solution to so many details are important. The approval process by MILCON, the military construction process, goes through many stages. At a minimum, a completed request form for military inclusion will have the following:  

First, justification. A project must be justified by an identified need. Second, analysis of deficiency. Third, alternatives considered with related economics. Fourth, proposed scope with cost. Fifth, functional requirements. Sixth, criteria to be used. Seventh, related acquisitions. Eighth; environmental documentation. Ninth, completed and required coordination actions. Finally, antiterrorism documentation. 

The military’s Traffic Engineering and Highway Safety Bulletin 12-05 states, “The MILCON process involves a sequence of reviews and approvals from the installation level through the Service’s Office of the Secretary, Office of Secretary of Defense, Office of Management and Budget, Congress and the president.” 

The MILCON process is typically five years. If the GAA’s request is approved, and no one knows how long its document preparation will take, final approval for the work will be five years.  

The project is not free. The participation by Gadsden’s taxpapers will, more than likely, be through a bond offering, and it will be sizable.  

It has taken 18 years and counting for Gadsden’s taxpayers to pay off a $6.4 million airport bond issued in 2004. Service on the bond has averaged about $500,000 a year. Because of the magnitude of the project, the city bond issue for extending the runway will be greater than the 2004 bond issue. 

In order to prevent what occurred with the rendering plant fiasco, the GAA should open its next meeting to the general public for input and questions concerning the runway improvement project. After all, a portion of the project will be financed with a presently unknown amount of taxpayer dollars. The taxpayers of Gadsden should be provided with all pertinent information concerning the project. If the GAA once again goes behind closed doors to conduct business, this will be a recipe for disaster. 

If the runway extension project is to get off the ground, it is essential that it have the full backing of the financiers of the project: Gadsden’s taxpayers. The proper way to have the taxpayers’ support is through full disclosure. All information concerning the runway extension project should be spelled out in the GAA feasibility study. 

John F. Floyd is a Gadsden native who graduated from Gadsden High School in 1954. He formerly was director of United Kingdom manufacturing, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., vice president of manufacturing and international operations, General Tire & Rubber Co., and director of manufacturing, Chrysler Corp. He can be reached at johnfloyd538@gmail.com. The opinions reflected are his own.