The Madison County Executive Airport Authority’s goal is to expand and develop the airport located at Meridianville, Alabama, to support the increase in general and corporate aviation activities necessary for the economic growth of Madison County. The expansion of the airport facilities encountered some unique challenges in terms of existing terrain and environmentally sensitive areas on and surrounding the airport property.

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The Airport Authority engaged the services of G.W. Jones & Sons Consulting Engineers, Inc., to plan and design the facilities expansion and coordinate the resolution of those issues related to the environmentally sensitive areas. In turn, G.W. Jones & Sons sought out the services of recognized experts to assist them in the specialized areas of stream relocation and other environmental issues.

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Cynthia Robinson of Robinsong Ecological Resources, Inc. provided environmental permitting services for the wetland mitigation and stream relocation needed for a runway safety area at the north end of the new runway. Wetland restoration for the project was provided by purchasing credits from Robinsong at their Flint Creek Wetland Mitigation Bank. The permitting for the relocation of such a large stream, the Brier Fork of the Flint River, required extensive assessment to develop a conceptual mitigation plan incorporating Rosgen’s Natural Channel Design Techniques.

Robinsong brought in one of the few experts, Chris Metcalf of Coastal Hydrology, in the southeast United States who could design a Priority One Restoration on a 50 square mile drainage river. This design included reference data from upstream and downstream of the site as well as gauged streams within the physioregion.

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Lenard Branum of Branum Contracting, Inc. was the prime contractor for the construction of the runway safety area which included filling the old gravel pits, preparing the rough grade for the new stream channel being built, hauling in huge boulders for the river structures, plugging the old river channel and providing the finished grade.

For implementation of the designed stream, Dr. Steve Jones of Environmental Services, Inc. brought in his team of earth movers and shaped the riffles and pools, fine tuned the point bars and created the river structures such as j-hooks and cross vanes that have now returned the Brier Fork of the Flint into a free flowing river.

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