From the Ground Up

Building a New Airport - Lessons Learned
Airport director Blake Swafford relates that of the lessons learned from the construction of the new Paulding Northwest Atlanta Airport, planning heads the list.

“A lesson learned for us is you can’t plan too much,” says Swafford. “This is a huge undertaking; everything from the noise studies to the layout of the runway, you really have to spend a large amount of time planning. We did that and it’s paid off.”

During the development phase, Swafford and other officials visited some 12 or more similar airports in the Southeastern United States. They included Manassas, VA; Sebring, FL; Ft. Lauderdale Executive; and Alliance Airport north of Ft. Worth.

Explains Swafford, “We tried to identify airports that were in a location relative to a large city like we are to Atlanta. We asked, if they could do it all over again what would they do differently? Two of the things we heard at every single airport was buy as much land as you possibly can … and put down as much runway as you can. We actually built 6,000 feet; it’s currently marked for 5,500.”

Were there any particular negatives along the way? Answers Swafford, “Nothing jumps out as a huge negative, but I’ll tell you that the environmental process is brutal. It took quite a long time and added a lot of expense. We have over-designed a lot of our storm drainage features to ensure that we don’t have any problems with impacts on adjacent streams and wildlife.”