The McCarran International Airport at Las Vegas, US, has started work on a major construction project worth $67m that will convert its longest runway from asphalt to concrete.
As part of the construction project, the airport will need to close its 14,505ft east-west Runway 25R/7L for a total of 12 months that will be divided into two six-month periods over the next two years.
The runway has currently stopped operations and will be reopened in May 2015. It will be shut down for the second time on 28 October next year to continue the project and will be reopened again on 1 May 2016.
Post completion of this project, all the four runways at the airport will be converted to concrete.
The airport has chosen this particular time period to commence with the construction work to minimise the impact on travellers.
Las Vegas Sun quoted the Clark County director of aviation Rosemary Vassiliadis as saying: "We have worked very closely with the FAA to develop a plan to allow this work to occur with minimal impact to the airlines and their schedules.
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By GlobalData"Under normal circumstances, we do not anticipate travellers will experience flight delays stemming from this work."
She also added that there was a possibility of storms and strong winds impacting the schedule during the closure.
Channel 13 further quoted Vassiliadis as saying that the rehabilitation project would also make improvements to a taxiway and lighting system. While the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grants will cover most of the costs, the rest will be covered by the revenues generated by the airport.
Image: Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport will close its runway for six months to convert it from asphalt to concrete. Photo: courtesy of khunaspix from freedigitalphotos.net.