Millions in Improvements Planned for Briscoe Field

By Steve Burns

Gwinnett County's taxpayer-owned airport is getting an unprecedented makeover, even though privatization efforts failed a year ago.

In a presentation to Gwinnett commissioners on Aug. 6, airport Director Matt Smith noted that the citizens review committee that formed for possible privatization stayed together, and recommended 68 projects for Briscoe Field.
Some have been completed, and a to-do list runs through 2015 and involves millions of dollars in federal, state and local funding.

"Not in my 12 years as director" has Smith seen as much attention paid to Briscoe Field as is happening now and into the future.

District 2 Commissioner Lynette Howard, who sat in on the airport citizens panel, noted that Briscoe Field is a "gateway" to the county. "It's where people come into the county for the first time," Howard said. "We want to make sure that their first impression is a good one. ... We want them to invest here."

In 2013, seven key improvements are planned, totaling about $2.2 million, according to county documents. Of that, about $1.4 million comes from federal authorities, $72,300 from the state and $794,800 from the county.

Among the 2013 improvements:

• rehabilitate Taxiway W & LED light improvements;
• air traffic control tower equipment upgrades;
• vehicle signs with airport branding;
• tree clearing and obstruction removal;
• installation of closed circuit TV system at the airport.

Improvements planned for 2014 include relocating the automated weather observation system and an upgrade to the automated surface observation system. Funding for all improvements is estimated at $740,000, with the Federal Aviation Administration contributing $666,000.

Smith said Briscoe's control towers are slated to remain open through the end of the federal fiscal year, and that there is support "on both sides of the aisle" for keeping the federal control tower program open.

-- What do you think of upgrading Briscoe Field? Tell us in the comments below.