Habersham Authorizes Bids for Airport-Area Access and Grading, but Work Has Not Been Documented

Habersham County officials unanimously authorized beginning a three-part bid process on June 1, 2023, for road access and site preparation near the airport. The proposed packages covered a cul-de-sac off Duncan Bridge Road, rough grading of lots and a second entrance near Steelcell. The authorization is the latest documented action on the work, but it does not establish that a contractor was selected or that construction began.

The decision concerns the basic infrastructure needed to make airport-area property accessible and usable: a paved road connection, prepared building lots and an additional entry point. Splitting the work into separate bids could allow the county to advance, price or schedule each element independently. For nearby residents and prospective businesses, the practical question remains whether the bidding authorization led to work on the ground or left the projects at the procurement stage.

The bid authorization followed an April airport update in which officials said the Georgia Department of Transportation knew about upcoming projects intended to address inspection issues. At that meeting, officials also said they expected to submit a One Georgia grant application for a hangar project that week and discussed financing options. That update showed planning and a prospective funding effort, not a grant award or approval of the road-and-grading work. Two months later, officials took the more concrete step of authorizing bids for the three airport-area packages.

County officials backed a phased procurement approach, approving the motion to begin the bid process unanimously. Airport officials, meanwhile, had framed earlier projects in part as responses to inspection issues and said GDOT was aware of those planned efforts. The June action did not identify bidders, contractors, property users or a construction schedule, so the record does not show how prospective contractors or affected businesses viewed the individual packages.

What is confirmed is the county’s June 2023 authorization to begin separate bidding for the cul-de-sac, lot grading and second entrance. The April reference to a One Georgia application was a planned application, not evidence of an award, and the financing discussion was not a project approval. No documented record here shows a bid notice, bid opening, award, executed contract, construction start, completed paving or completed grading. As a result, the project’s cost, contractor, sequence and timetable remain unknown.

The next public sign of progress would be county procurement or contract action identifying whether one or more of the three packages is moving ahead and who would perform the work. Later meeting minutes or a construction update could also establish whether the Duncan Bridge Road connection, rough-graded lots or Steelcell-area entrance proceeded. Until then, the county has authorized the bid process, while the eventual scope, order of work and completion remain undecided or undocumented.