San Diego Int’l Airport will dig up the runway every night for a year
And if your flight has a freak delay and needs to land after midnight, you’re out of luck and could be diverted. The project started Nov. 1 and will last roughly a year.
Under the cover of darkness — yes, it’s true, but there’s no cloak-and-dagger drama — San Diego’s airport authority has been tearing up sections of the airport’s only runway every night since Nov. 1.
This repaving project will last roughly a year and cost $22.8 million.
One result is a “hard” closure of the runway that starts at midnight and goes to 5 a.m. every day.
Passenger flights in and out of San Diego International shouldn’t be affected, officials said — unless your flight has a freak delay and needs to land or depart after midnight.
Then, you will be out of luck. That’s already happened to one British Airways flight this month.
Another scenario is that a late arriving flight could be diverted to a nearby airport, such as Los Angeles or Ontario.
Airport officials said these instances should be “extremely rare,” however, as airlines have adjusted their flights to take the construction into account.
Cargo carriers also have moved their schedules to handle the closure. Spokespeople for UPS and Federal Express said this week that they don’t expect any delivery delays.
Dealing with flight restrictions isn’t new for San Diego. The airport’s regular curfew means no scheduled departures between 11:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m. (And airlines who break the curfew can be fined.)
Arrivals are usually allowed throughout the night — but this closure changes that for the coming year.
The idea is to rehabilitate the asphalt on Runway 9-27 — the airport’s single runway.
It sees a lot of action: San Diego has the busiest single-runway commercial airport in the nation. In 2016, it served 20.7 million passengers.
“With San Diego International Airport’s single runway, maintenance is critical and not without its unique challenges,” said Angela Shafer-Payne, vice president of operations.
She said the project will help ensure safety and extend the life of the fixture.
Workers from Granite Construction Company are milling and replacing the top three inches of the asphalt runway, which measures 200 feet wide and 9,400 feet long.
Eight sections of taxiway are also being rehabbed.
The job includes replacement of the runway lighting system. It involves swapping out old-fashioned incandescent bulbs for energy-saving LED versions, which also provide increased visibility.
Asphalt on one particularly heavily-used taxiway section will be replaced with more durable concrete.
The Federal Aviation Administration owns the airport’s runway status lighting system, which will also be upgraded. The FAA is contributing $16.7 million in grant funding to the project.
It’s been 18 years — the last time was October 1999 -- since the entire runway-taxiway system was overhauled in this way.
The centerline of the runway, just 75 feet across, and one of the taxiways were redone in 2006.
The San Diego County Regional Airport Authority is paying for the bulk of the expense from its existing capital projects budget. A spokesman said no special fees have or will be created to cover the repaving cost.
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