Repaving efforts for the runways at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport will kick back up in April, with the two-year project expected to conclude by November.
That’s according to an updated schedule provided Jan. 17 to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority’s board of directors.
The 2023 work included placing 8 inches of new asphalt on the airport’s main runway (designated 1-19) and a secondary runway (15-33), as well as the intersection of 1-19 with the airport’s third runway (4-22). When the project recommences in 2024, another 2 inches will be added.
The foundation, dating back to the airport’s opening in 1941, remains in good shape, authority officials said.
The repaving project in 2023 required the airport to close to passenger traffic at midnight to accommodate the work. Any flights that were running late and could not make the curfew had to be canceled at their departure point or diverted to another local airport.
That same restriction could be in effect for much of the project in 2024.
Keeping runways in good repair is vital, as residents of the 50th state learned this month.
Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport on the “Big Island” of Hawaii had to be shut down owing to cracks found on the main runway.
The closure “ended up leading to the cancellation of a number of flights and diverting aircraft headed to Kona, affecting thousands of passengers,” noted the Honolulu Star-Advertiser newspaper.
“A project to reconstruct the entire 11,000-foot runway had been scheduled for this year, but cracks developed and the degradation of the runway pavement accelerated due to recent rains,” the newspaper reported, quoting a state official.
