According to the latest Cobb County International Airport newsletter, the approval of the airport’s Master Plan Environmental Assessment Report has been delayed. At issue is the completion of an analysis of the impact of the way the airport separates the taxiways from the runways. To rework the separation to FAA standards would be very expensive, according to the report in the newsletter.
In addition to the benefits to the public of having an environmentally sound operation, FAA funding is at stake.
The newsletter describes the report and its consequences as follows:
The FAA has requested the airport complete studies analyzing the impacts of possible nonstandard Taxiway Separation Standards. Since meeting the FAA’s standard taxiway separation from the runway would be very expensive at RYY, the FAA has requested the airport submit realistic alternatives to the FAA for review and consideration before the FAA will approve the Environmental Assessment.
Before the FAA will participate in funding construction projects on the airport, it is necessary to complete this Environmental Assessment. The new construction project priorities anticipated over the next 10 years include relocating Taxiway A and Taxiway B further from the runway to meet FAA development/safety standards.
The Airport Master Plan is posted on the Airport’s webpage: cobbcountyairport.org (bottom of page)
About Cobb County International Airport
The Cobb County International Airport Master Plan gives the following description of the airport:
Cobb County International Airport – McCollum Field (RYY) is a 323-acre public-use facility located one mile southeast of Kennesaw, Georgia, approximately 25 miles northwest of the city of Atlanta. The Airport is owned and operated by the Cobb County Department of Transportation (CCDOT) in accordance with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requirements, with oversight by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) on federally funded, state-funded, and locally funded projects as a designated State Block Grant Program (SBGP) participant.
The Cobb County International Airport, which is also known as McCollum Field, began through the efforts of Commissioner Herbert McCollum, who took office in 1957.
At that time Cobb County only had one commissioner. McCollum was the last commissioner under that system before the commission was expanded.
When discussions about the airport began, Cobb County was the only county among the fifteen largest in the state to lack a municipal airport.
McCollum lobbied Senator Herman Talmadge and 7th District Representative Erwin Mitchell, who managed to secure federal matching funding for the airport.
McCollum Field opened in the summer of 1960.
(The history of the airport, related above, was summarized from the section on the airport’s beginnings in Cobb County, Georgia, and the Origins of the Suburban South, by Thomas Scott).