Main Oakland airport runway reopens

The main commercial air carrier runway at the Oakland International Airport has reopened following two weeks of around-the-clock construction, airport officials said Tuesday.

The $67 million project to rehabilitate Runway 12-30 replaced 8,300 feet of asphalt to provide a new operating surface for aircraft, according to Port of Oakland officials.

The port said that because the runway typically is in service 24 hours a day, their staff members conducted an extensive planning process with its air carriers, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other stakeholders to develop a preferred short-duration, full-closure option to minimize impacts to aircraft operations.

Airport officials said they received a $37 million grant from the FAA in June to help pay for rehabilitating the runway and additional grant funds were received last year.

Port of Oakland officials said a portion of the FAA funding was used to convert an existing taxiway into a temporary alternate runway so the airport’s flight operations could be maintained during the rehabilitation work.

“We are so pleased to have reopened the airport’s main runway following an immense amount of planning, collaboration, coordination, and effort to execute this critical project,” Port of Oakland Director of Aviation Bryant Francis said in a statement.

Francis said:

“This important project will ensure that our runway remains functional and safe for all users for many years to come.”

The Port of Oakland said it conducted outreach efforts to local residents who were impacted by noise caused by the rerouting of aircraft during construction and distributed more than 600 movie tickets and Oakland A’s tickets to them over the past two weeks.

The last time Runway 12-30’s had a pavement overlay was in 2001.