10
RUNWAYS  
October 2026      AirportImprovement.com
SAT
Airlift Wing that flies massive C-5M Super 
Galaxy heavy strategic transports, as well as 
a squadron of F-16 jets assigned to the Texas 
Air National Guard’s 149th Fighter Wing. 
In addition, Lackland’s 37th Training Wing 
handles basic training for nearly 80,000 Air 
Force recruits each year, a majority of whom 
fly through the region via commercial flights 
at SAT.
“Joint Base San 
Antonio is a mission-
critical facility,” 
emphasizes Edwin 
Tamang, a San Antonio-
based vice president at 
Kimley-Horn, the master 
planner of SAT’s airfield 
projects. “Given the 
economic influence of the military, having to 
displace flights is never a good thing,” 
When it came time to plan the work 
on Runway 13R-31L, SAT’s team applied 
lessons learned from a temporary runway 
closure more than a decade ago and 
began collaborating with Air Force leaders 
a full year before the runway would close in 
early 2026. Those conversations included 
FAA representatives from headquarters in 
Washington, D.C., as well as the Southwest 
Regional Office/Central Service Center in 
Fort Worth. 
Air Force training operations were 
subsequently adjusted to occur outside SAT’s 
scheduled runway closure from Jan. 12 to 
March 6. This meant more sorties occurred 
before the military’s annual Holiday Block 
Leave or later in March. The goal, Tamang 
explains, was to find a workable schedule 
that “minimized pain points for all.”
One unexpected change resulting from 
preliminary discussions was shrinking 
the rehabilitation plan’s original scope to 
decrease the closure time. Tamang credits 
Matthew Tamrowski, a project manager at 
Austin Bridge & Road, and Kimley-Horn 
Vice President and Project Engineer David 
Sparkes for their willingness to listen and 
work to balance everyone’s needs.
“You don’t often have a contractor that’s 
willing to suggest reducing the scope to 
make up time,” Tamang remarks. “But we 
were always talking, [discussing ideas] to 
surgically tweak the phasing for every key 
stakeholder—including the military— in order 
to get this going.”
EDWIN TAMANG
Lights were upgraded to 
energy-efficient LEDs.

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