Spending Cuts Could Impact McCollum

The air traffic control tower at McCollum Field in Kennesaw will likely close if automatic budget cuts take effect March 1, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced today.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said if Congress does not work out a solution by the deadline, the DOT will need to cut nearly $1 billion dollars. More than $600 million of that will come from the Federal Aviation Administration.

McCollum is on a list of potential tower closings that the DOT released today. More than 100 air traffic control towers at airports with fewer than 150,000 flight operations per year made the list. 

Other metro area airports that will be impacted by the cuts include Brown Field in Fulton and Briscoe Field in Lawrenceville.

"These closures are a serious matter," the department said in a statement on the DOT's official blog. "They will impact services for commercial, general aviation, and military aircraft. They will delay travelers and delay the critical goods and services that communities around the country need. They are harmful cuts with real world consequences that will cost jobs and hurt our economy.

"The President has put forward a solution to avoid these cuts; now we need Congress to come together to work on a long-term, balanced solution to our deficit challenges."