A series of construction projects at Elton Hensley Memorial Airport concluded with paint drying on the runway numbers, according to City Engineer Greg Hayes at the Airport Advisory Board meeting Monday.
Hayes said the construction was done in order to make the airport Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) compliant, and included widening the taxi-way around the hangars and extending the end of the runways to 200 feet. The airport originally only had 150 feet of pavement past the end of the runway.
Hayes said some of the slabs on the concrete runway turned out to need replacing rather than crack repairs due to extensive cracking so deep that large chunks of concrete had come dislodged. He said the project could have possibly ended even sooner had weather permitted, but they "didn't want to pour big slabs in the heat."