Cummins, Inc will temporarily use part of Columbus Municipal Airport as a test track while it renovates an existing track at Walesboro.
Columbus Board of Aviation Commissioners voted to approve an agreement allowing Cummins to use the airport’s northwest ramp, said airport director Brian Payne. Commissioner Lisa Prentiss, who is a Cummins employee, abstained from the discussion and vote.
“We feel like it’s a good use for one of, obviously, Columbus’s biggest employers,” Payne said.
The company is remodeling its existing test track at the former Walesboro airport, so it will temporarily use space at the Columbus airport in the meantime, he said. The land included in the agreement is about 30 acres, which is also used for firefighter, police and other emergency personnel training.
The month-to-month agreement lasts until December and allows Cummins to use the site during times when it is not needed for such training, Payne said. The company will pay $3,000 a month.
“They’re completely remodeling the test track (at Walesboro),” he said. “So I think removing asphalt, and they are taking one of the ends and making it a more curved approach so vehicles can keep up a higher speed through the curve.”
