b'GENERAL AVIATIONFXE61Ironically, it rained the very day work was set to begin.13-31 and 9-27 on a Friday evening, knowing work had to proceed Fortunately, the airfield didnt have to be cleared until later without a hitch. that night.As scheduled, Runway 13-31 was back to business by 6 On Feb. 24, 2025, at 10:00 p.m., the clock started tickinga.m. Monday morning, and it went without the remaining work for the prescribed 10 days. Resurfacing work was scheduled incontinued. phases, with Phase 1 focusing on the eastern part of the mainIn the end, the project was completed slightly ahead of runway, Phase 2 on the middle section (which required the mainschedulea notable accomplishment with such a tight timeframe. and crosswind runways to close concurrently), and Phase 3Construction was set to be completed by 6:00 a.m. on Friday, finishing on the west end.March 7, 2025, with the main runway opening immediately With backup equipment in place as a contingency, thethereafter. The contractor finished by 4:00 a.m., two hours early. contractor started milling.With that extra time, airport operations staff actually had time to The team was ready to work around the clock, even preparingspare after inspecting the runway for foreign object debris and with backup crews, James recalls. The workers knew whatrunning through the post-project safety checklist.they had to do, and there wasnt any slacking off. EveryoneThe team also came in slightly under budget. At the start,understood what their role was.the job was estimated to cost $9.75 million but finished at$9.62 million.Just Ahead of Schedule and Under Budget You hope and pray everything goes well: that there are no Because some airport tenants travel to the Bahamas on a dailysafety issues, no security issues, no delays, James says. Each basis, FXE kept its 4,000-foot crosswind runway (Runway 13-31)day that went by, we checked with the engineer and consultant. open during most of the project. However, it didnt meet the needsAnd it finished as smoothly as wed hoped. of all jet operators, especially for those traveling greater distances. With that in mind, the project team shut down the intersection of AirportImprovement.comSeptember 2025'