Airport eyes plan update before new projects take flight next year
May 18—With a major slate of construction projects now behind it, the Cullman Regional Airport is pausing this year to update its long-term layout plan before diving back in with more upgrades and expansion beginning in 2023.
At its regular meeting Tuesday, the Cullman County Commission approved a service contract with regional architecture and engineering firm Goodwyn Mills Cawood (GMC), which will perform this year's update to the facility's Airport Layout Plan (ALP). The ALP is a planning document developed with ongoing input from the Federal Aviation Administration to outline the airport's current layout, as well as areas at the site that management has identified for future improvement.
"It's a massive document that basically gives the FAA information to ensure we have all of our bases covered in the planning phase, before we go out for federal AIP projects (Airport Improvement Program), which have to be reflected on your ALP plan," explained airport general manager Ben Harrison.
"We're not doing a construction project this year because we did such a large project with the runway. Now that the runway's done, the taxiways are done, and we've got some easements purchased on the south end, we're going to move our ALP forward by two years and go ahead and update it. The engineers will go through and look at physical planning; look at survey markers; they'll mark the easements that are in place; they'll mark where we might be looking at future land purchases or land development also."
The ALP update arrives two years ahead of schedule, a reflection of the airport's recent bustle of major construction that includes the full depth recompilation and surfacing of the 5,500-foot runway at Folsom Field, as well as the erection of two T-hangar buildings, taxiway improvements, and other infrastructure upgrades.
GMC has worked with the airport to perform design and engineering services for various projects since 2010, and will reassess the facility's current physical site features in revising the ALP plan before a fresh round of improvement projects gets underway in 2023.
"I would think by the end of this calendar year we'll have a really good idea of what that's going to look like," said Harrison. "Next year, we'll be in a position to kick right back up with construction
Though an airport isn't required to refresh its ALP plan on a one-size-fits-all fixed schedule, Harrison said Cullman typically revises its plan every seven to ten years. "But the fact that we've had so many projects since our last one was done in 2015 means we're in a good place to just go ahead and pull our plan forward a couple of years ahead of time," he explained.
The airport has benefited from FAA funding to make its recent $4 million runway overhaul possible. But skipping fresh construction for the current year means there won't be any major capital improvement expense approaching that scale until after the ALP plan update is finished. Harrison estimated the cost of performing this year's ALP refresh at a comparatively slight $180,000 or less.
Benjamin Bullard can be reached by phone at 256-734-2131 ext. 234.
