Regional airport near Centre nearing completion

By Scott Wright

CENTRE — The Centre-Piedmont-Cherokee County Regional Airport is only a few weeks away from opening, according to the chairman of the Airport Authority and a representative from the engineering firm in charge of construction.

F&M Bank President James Beall, who has led the board in charge of overseeing the construction work since preliminary work began in 2001, last week told a crowd of around 30 local businessmen that pavement of a 1,300 ft. extension of the existing 4,200 ft. runway at the new airport has been completed.

“That gives us the 5,500 ft. runway we had hoped for, initially,” Beall said Monday at a meeting of the Centre Rotary Club.

Ryan Reed, of Huntsville-based Garver Engineering, also spoke to the Rotarians on Monday and said the airport should have the runway lights installed within the next few months. At that point, he explained, the airport can open for business.

“Installing the lights should take about 90 days, from the time we begin the process,” Reed said.

Reed also presented Rotary Club members with a packet of documents detailing year-by-year construction goals and accomplishments related to the airport.

“Fiscal Year 2003 was when we acquired the land, attained all the necessary permits and designed the airport,” Reed said. “We also began the site preparation in 2003 and established an overall budget.”

According to the packet Reed distributed to the crowd, the FY 2003 budget came to a total of $2.12 million. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) contributed all except around $210,000, which was split equally among the Airport Authority and the Alabama Department of Transportation.

In FY 2004, documents provided by Reed showed that the total amount spent on the airport was $1.14 million, with all but around $57,000 coming from the federal government. Work completed in the 2004 budget year included completion of site preparation and installation all of the perimeter fencing around the approximately 300-acre site.

In FY 2005, paving of the runway began. Construction was also begun on a connecting taxiway and aircraft parking apron. Reed said those projects were delayed by disasters along the Gulf Coast.

“In 2005, some of the federal money we were expecting to be able to build the 5,500 ft. runway was rerouted to Louisiana after the hurricanes,” he said. “As a result, we settled for paving a shorter amount of runway than we had originally intended.”

Budget totals for FY 2005 were $1.52 million, the documents showed.

This past fiscal year, the total amount spent of the airport was around $1.26 million. Funds were used to complete the remaining 1,300 ft. of runway, as well as construction turnarounds at each end of the runway and to purchase the airfield lighting and other navigational aids. Again, state and local government was forced to contribute only a small portion of the total, around $63,000.

Beall explained that other airport authorities he has interacted with since 2001 have marveled at how a rural area such as northeast Alabama has been able to acquire such a large chunk of federal dollars for the airport.

“People are always asking me how we were able to do this,” Beall said. “We’ve been able to receive a very good share of money for a statewide airport, and we’re the first new airport to be built in Alabama in 20 to 25 years.”

Beall said the fact that the Centre-Piedmont-Cherokee County Regional Airport is so unique will generate a lot of publicity for the airfield and the area. He also said he’s begun fielding inquiries about businesses interested in the possibility of locating near the airport.

“Several people from Atlanta and Birmingham have expressed interest already,” Beall said. “However, we have spoken with one commercial delivery service about locating a terminal at the airport. They said we would have to be no more than 3-4 miles from an interstate before they would consider building a shipping terminal.”

Reed said there’s still more work to be done. Included in the FY 2007 budget are requests for money to build hangars for private airplanes, as well as a 5,500 ft. parallel taxiway. The total request comes to around $1.17 million.

“We’ll hope to get all we ask for, but we’ll just have to wait and see,” Reed said. “There are also other structures such as a terminal building and refueling facilities that we hope to include at the airport.”

When the items included in the fiscal year 2007 budget are completed Phase I of construction will be finished, Reed said. He added that there are plans in place for a second phase of construction, which includes additional paved taxiways, expanding the apron around the runway, additional hangars and increased vehicular access and parking.

Reed said long-term plans also call for upgrading the runway to precision status and installing an instrument landing system, along with paving the access road that connects the airport to Highway 9.

“Those are all items we hope can be incorporated as they are needed,” Reed said.

Beall said one of the few remaining obstacles to having the airport ready to open is getting electricity run out to the facility.

“The Cherokee Electric Cooperative has given us an estimate of $150,000 for running underground electrical cables to the airport,” Beall said. “That’s not in our budget right now so we’re looking into running above-ground electrical lines, which will cost around $50,000.”

Beall said there is already money in the budget to run 6,000 ft. of water line to the airport, although there is no sewer system along that stretch of Highway 9.

“We’ll probably be looking at on-site septic systems” when the time comes to worry about sewage, Beall said.

The Airport Authority was formed several years ago in response to growth restraints at Centre's existing municipal airport, which has been surrounded by residential growth and confined by roadway expansion since it was built in 1960.

At one time, there were also plans to build an separate airport in Piedmont. Faced with funding difficulties in Piedmont and the lack of available land to expand in Centre, the two municipalities, along with the Cherokee County government, agreed to form the authority and combine their efforts to build a new airport with plenty of room for future expansion.