Airport’s $10.2 project aims to boost economic development
The Columbia-Marion County Airport will be able to accommodate just about any corporate jet when it completes a $10.2 million expansion in mid-2020.
The runway extension and widening is 100 percent federally funded and intended to boost economic development.
“The reason we got the grant is because in the grant we talked about the dozen businesses that are here that use the airport for business. Half of those have aircraft that are larger than the airport would accommodate with the planes at full capacity,” Engineer Jeff Dungan said.
He said one example of the project’s importance was seen when the Marion County Development Partnership was recruiting Nelson Wholesale, and the owner landed on his first visit.
“When he got off the plane he said, ‘Are there any plans to lengthen the runway because that’s a problem for me?’ And he acted like he didn’t really want to go see the building,” Dungan said. “Fortunately Jerry Frazier and Lori (Watts) were able to say, ‘Yes, as a matter of fact.’”
The dog food distributor ended up locating in Columbia in 2016 and employs about 20 people.
Dungan and Airport Board Member Tom Porter gave an update on the airport March 5 to the Columbia Rotary Club.
Porter, who has served on the board for about 12 years, said he and fellow board members, including Raymond May, Ricky Dyess, Mike Riley and David Declement, have been aggressive in making improvements.
But they ran into a problem four or five years ago of losing corporate jets that were too large and moved to Pine Belt (the Hattiesburg-Laurel airport).
Porter said the board began thinking about extending the runway and began a justification process with the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA actually determined they needed not only a longer runway but actually justified going up in class of airport.
Porter said that increases the footprint of the entire airport, including “obstruction-free” zones around the runway.
They also completed an environmental study about how it would affect people and houses in the surrounding area.
Porter said it was going to take six to seven years to complete because a 5 percent local match was required to get the $10 million and the city and county did not have an extra $500,000 to pay out in one year.
However, the Trump administration came up with $205 million nationally in the first year for airport projects that required no match.
Marion County, which has about 0.00008 percent of the total U.S. population, got $10.2 million, equal to about 5 percent of the total amount spent nationally. It was the only airport in Mississippi to be funded.
“The airport board, those five volunteers, they should be commended for that,” Dungan said. “They’re smart. They’re business people. They’re there because they want to be there. They’re there to make the community better and have a better airport.”
The project has two parts: relocating airport road and the runway expansion.
On the road, FAA standards don’t allow for an intersection within so much distance of the runway. So the intersection of Airport Road and Old Highway 35 has to move about a quarter mile south of where it is now.
Beacon Construction was the low bidder and received the $1.4 million contract. Dungan said Beacon is through with the first phase and will move into the next phase when the weather permits.
He said Airport Road, which gets about 2,500 cars per day, will be closed for about six months when that happens.
On the second project, Walters Construction bid $7.2 million to do the work related to the runway. That includes clearing the approach and sloping the ground a certain way to the side of the runway. The runway will be lengthened by about 1,050 feet to 5,500 feet and also widened from 75 feet to 100 feet.
All of the lighting will be demolished and new lighting installed. All the navigation aids will be replaced, and the runway will be repainted.
“It’s really a new airport,” Dungan said.
The project also creates a 400-acre industrial park next to the airport with a taxiway coming off the runway to it. The goal is to attract aviation-related industry.
Some things were cut from the initial project in the Trump administration grant, but Dungan said they expect to be able to eventually do them using some other grants.
The engineer said the justification for the project required showing 500 annual itinerant operations (a takeoff and a landing counts as one) of aircraft larger than the runway is able to accommodate. The study ended up showing 700 to 800 based on letters from the owners of aircraft saying what they would do if the runway were longer.
Dungan said the target aircraft is a Learjet 45, and Porter said the new airport will handle “just about any business-type jet.”
Porter said the airport constantly gets calls asking what type plane they can accommodate and they end up going to Pine Belt airport instead. The goal is to keep those landings here and potentially bring industry with it.
“The whole idea is it will cause economic development, growth and jobs,” Dungan said.
Pictured Above: A car drives past the Columbia-Marion County Airport Monday. A $1.4 million project is moving the intersection of Airport Road and Old Highway 35 about a half mile south, and a $7.2 million project will be expanding and lengthening the runway as well as clearing space around it. | Photo by Charlie Smith
