Floyd County to start on airport runway extension
♦ The SPLOST project is divided into three parts to try to bring down the cost.
Floyd County commissioners are moving forward on the first part of a SPLOST project to extend the runway at Richard B. Russell Regional Airport past 7,000 feet.
The extension will create a safer runway for larger planes. Officials said it will be the second-longest runway in North Georgia, excluding HartsfieldJackson Atlanta International Airport.
Commissioners awarded a contract for grading and drainage Tuesday to Bartow Paving of Cartersville for $1,399,665.35. County Manager Jamie Mccord confirmed that this was the lowest bid for the project.
The board also approved a consulting services agreement with Mike Reiter CMT for $ 394,178. They will be overseeing the administration and quality assurance for the grading and drainage project.
Voters approved $5.7 million for the project in the 2013 special purpose, local option sales tax.
Originally, the project was going to be done all at once. But when it went out for bid in July 2018, there wasn’t much competition and the responses were over the available budget.
Mccord said they split the project into smaller parts to expand the number of companies that are qualified to bid. The remaining parts are laying the base and paving the runway and the electrical work.
The county is still waiting on final approval from the Georgia Department of Transportation on the environmental assessment before the grading can start.
Assistant County Manager Gary Burkhalter said they have been working with GDOT to get the assessment done for some time now, but they kept running into issues.
“They think we can be approved by this Friday,” he said.
Once it’s signed off, they will give the contractors notice to proceed with the project.
Commissioners also went into executive session towards the end of the meeting to discuss personnel and property acquirement, but didn’t take any action.