Feds May Force One-Year Delay on Airport Road

Paulding County Airport and Industrial Building Authority members heard Wednesday that their road project for the new Airport Industrial Park may be delayed by a year by the federal government.

Airport Director Blake Swafford said the new road extension of Airport Parkway off U.S. 278 is expected to draw even more businesses to the adjacent industrial park. "We've had more prospects now than in the last 12 to 18 months."

County Administrator Mike Jones told the members that a Federal Highway Administration official says the environmental study is needed first.

"There’s nothing we’re going to be damaging," Jones said.

Dallas Mayor Boyd Austin, a member of both authorities, said he would call the FHA official this week.

"You got some knucklehead holding everything up when you can build a road to bring businesses and jobs," Austin said, whose brother, Paulding Commission Chairman David Austin, also serves on both authorities.

Swafford said the new road will cost about $2 million in federal grant money. Yet between $300,000 and $400,000 of that money will need to be used for the environmental assessment.

"We’re putting a street across a ridge—not near a stream or a darter. We're not damaging the environment," Swafford said. Since federal funds paid for almost all of the airport, federal rules determine much about its operation, he noted.

For instance, Swafford said the Federal Aviation Administration does not want the runways or taxiways used for any other purposes such as charity runs or motorcycle rides, as has been requested of the authority for this month and next. So an April 30 Fun Run will be restricted to the airport's gravel road.