After a departing jet blew out a chunk of the newly laid runway pavement at Cyril E. King Airport around 3 p.m. Tuesday, the V.I. Port Authority closed the 7,000-foot runway and denied several commercial airliners landing for nearly three hours until crews could fix the damage.
According to a statement issued by VIPA late Tuesday, a piece of pavement gave way at the 1,300-foot mark in an area that had been worked on the night before as part of VIPA’s ongoing airport runway overlay project that began in March.
“We have the contractor already on site along with VIPA’s engineering, maintenance and fire department,” VIPA Executive Director Kenn Hobson announced at the time, as the project contractor, VI Paving, Inc., worked to repair the small section affected by the blowout.
The entire runway was reopened at 5:44 p.m., VIPA announced.
Hobson apologized for the inconveniences caused but said the closure was necessary to ensure the safety of the traveling public. Hobson confirmed that airport operations have resumed as normal.
The runway project is the first complete overlay of the runway since its completion in 1991, according to VIPA. Work is done from 10 p.m. through 5:30 a.m. each day by VI Paving, Inc. The repaired sections of the runway are tested daily for compliance with the project specifications by a testing firm certified by the Construction Material Engineering Council, Inc.
The project is expected to be completed by December 2010 at a cost of $15 million — 95 percent of which is funded by the Federal Aviation Administration via an Airport Improvement Project grant. The remaining five percent is funded by VIPA.
