Columbus Airport is set to receive $24M for runway reconstruction, while Georgia Tech plans expansion with mixed-use development near campus in Atlanta. Columbus project aims to address wear and tear issues, with construction slated to start in March and funding coming from federal, state, and local sources. Georgia Tech's project involves redeveloping former site into hotel and dormitory space.
The commercial airport in Columbus, Ga., is due to receive big money from the federal government to help fully reconstruct one of its runways, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced Sept. 6.
The FAA will provide $24.4 million to the Columbus Airport (CSG) to reconstruct runway 6/24, one of 519 projects nationwide to which the federal agency awarded funding as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation's (USDOT) $1.9 billion Airport Improvement Program (AIP).
CSG's runway 6/24 needs to be rebuilt down to its base due to normal wear and tear, such as cracks, depression and displacement, along with addressing storm drain issues, the Ledger-Enquirer reported Sept. 10.
The total cost of the southwestern Georgia airport project was expected to cost $36.5 million, the newspaper said, but officials with the facility have not yet said whether they have the rest of the money accounted for.
This construction is expected to start in March and take 103 days to finish, according to CSG officials. The closure of the asphalt runway "will suspend all commercial, large general aviation and military operations during the construction of the project," CSG said in a previous news release.
Typically, the airport's commercial traffic consists of three Delta Airline flights a day.
Officials also noted the CSG's other asphalt runway will remain open throughout most of the ongoing improvement project, aside from a one-week span in which both will need to be closed.
"The typical lifespan of an asphalt runway is around 40 years, [and] as a runway approaches this age, it will be assessed for reconstruction," Columbus Airport Director Amber Clark said in a written statement. "Preventative maintenance is conducted to extend the life of the runway as much as possible."
She added that although the airport's take-off and landing surface has undergone regular upgrades over the years, including the resealing of cracks, milling and refilling its layers, "it has been determined that our runway has reached the end of its useful life and is due for reconstruction."
Typically, a crack resealing project occurs every 3 to 5 years and a rehabilitation project takes place once each 10 years, Clark added.
"They're going to tear up all of the asphalt that we currently have — all of the base material," she explained. "They will be laying storm drains underneath the runway and relaying the base, then [have to apply] a top coat. Hopefully, that will be concrete, but, if not, it will be asphalt."
In speaking recently with WTVM-TV in Columbus, Clark assured the flying public that from now until the reconstruction begins in March, runway 6/24 currently remains safe for travel.
Funding for the $36.5 million dollar project will cover two fiscal years, but the reconstruction will happen as one project. Clark noted that the federal monies for the runway rebuild will be combined with state and local funding.
If everything goes to plan, Columbus Airport Runway 6/24 is expected to be operational again next July.
Georgia Tech Planning On-Campus Mixed-Use Development
After its development slate was wiped almost completely clean in 2023, to the chagrin of Atlanta armchair preservationists, a mixed-use project that would continue Georgia Tech's westward expansion in Atlanta is showing signs of life.
Plans were recently filed with the Atlanta City Council Zoning Committee for the redevelopment of the former Randall Brothers Construction Materials headquarters, a century-old complex located near the western fringes of the university campus on Marietta Street, Urbanize Atlanta reported Sept. 16.
According to city filings, Georgia Tech is seeking a Special Use Permit to build a hotel and dormitory on the 7.3-acre site, which also counts 294 ft. of frontage on North Avenue near Coca-Cola's headquarters. But first, the property needs to be rezoned from a classification for light industrial uses to mixed-use residential and commercial.
Exactly what the site's redevelopment could look like is not yet clear.
A Georgia Tech representative told Urbanize Atlanta via email, "There's really nothing new on this yet," when asked for specifics.
The property is located where North Avenue meets Marietta Street, a few steps north of downtown and directly west of Bobby Dodd Stadium.
University officials previously said an arts-focused redevelopment will replace the longstanding building supply company, and earlier filings described those plans generally as "multifamily, dormitory, hotel, office and commercial uses."
For now, the site is idle and vacant, apart from large concrete slabs and one old brick structure that was mothballed, as project leaders noted in their demolition permit paperwork that it was for future adaptive-reuse purposes. Eight commercial buildings totaling 101,000 sq. ft. were razed on the property in 2023.
The redevelopment would continue Georgia Tech's growth spurt on the western rim of campus and beyond, where the university's first new student housing since 2005 is planned and the Science Square project debuted earlier this year.
Randall Brothers initially put the Marietta Street property up for sale in early 2018, citing the area's post-Olympics boom and rise in property value during the current long development cycle.
Later that fall, Georgia Tech Foundation paid $36 million for the property, noting that its bones and adaptive-reuse potential echoed two success stories on the flipside of downtown: Ponce City Market and Krog Street Market.
After selling the Marietta Street property, Randall Brothers relocated its Atlanta facility to an overhauled headquarters building overlooking Atlanta Road near Interstate 285.
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