The Cyril E. King Airport Runway Rehabilitation Project will begin at 10 p.m. on Sunday, March 14, according to a press release from the V.I. Port Authority Executive Director Kenn Hobson. The entire runway 10/28 at the St. Thomas airport will be repaired to meet Federal Aviation Administration’s regulations and to improve safety conditions for travelers. This is the first complete repair project performed on the airport runway since its completion in 1991. The $15 million project is being funded via an Airport Improvement Projects grant from the FAA, which was awarded to the Port Authority in 2009. The FAA will pay 95 percent of the cost and VIPA will fund the remaining five percent.
Hobson said that Virgin Islands Paving Inc., the project contractor, has completed Phase I of the project which included mobilization of equipment and testing of the asphalt that will be used on the runway. Phase II of the project beings on Sunday, March 14 and will involve the repairs and milling of sections of the runway.. Phase III of the project will entail the complete milling of the entire runway and installation of transitional pavement.
Work will be conducted from 10 p.m. through 5:30 a.m. each day for the next nine months. The repaired sections of the runway will be tested for safety compliance per FAA regulations prior to the reopening of the airport each day and there will be no interruptions of scheduled flights to St. Thomas, according to .Hobson.
