The Gainesville City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night in favor of a rehabilitation project that will facilitate major improvements to the Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport.
Runway 5-23 is a primary thoroughfare for incoming and outgoing flights. With support from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), the runway will undergo major imporvements costing approximately $5 million.
City manager Bryan Lackey said the project has been in the pipeline for a long time now and he’s looking forward to finally getting improvements underway.
“Well, it's been on our plan, that airport, which has conjunction with the FAA and GDOT that needs to be upgraded,” Lackey said. “We've had, I guess, through COVID and other supply chain issues, a limited amount of bidders on the project that GDOT was concerned about. So we've been through the procurement process two or three times on this and finally gotten them satisfied with a bidder that we have on the project, which we're excited about. So we're ready to move forward finally with it with a much needed renovation to our main primary runway.”
According to officials, funding for the project will consist of an 80% federal contribution, totaling approximately $4 million. The state and local governments will each contribute 10%, combining for $1 million to reach the project goal. Much of the funding is coming from the FAA.
Lackey said providing a safe and well-maintained runway will help bolster the economic status of the Gainesville community.
“The airport is certainly an economic development generator for the community and corporations want to have their corporate jets nearby and us having the appropriate runway that their pilots feel safe coming in,” Lackey said. “The runway—it's been a while since we've upgraded it for that, there's been a huge need for it. So I do think the aviation community, especially our corporate aviation community, is going to be excited about that.”
Lackey said that although it is not the right time now, with cold weather and the winter climate, they hope to begin construction on the project in spring 2023, aiming for a February or March start date.
