Page Field Airport in Fort Myers, Florida, has completed the year-long rehabilitation of its 6,406-foot primary Runway 5/23 and associated taxiways. The $24 million phase one of the project was funded with assistance from the FAA, which contributed nearly $19 million. The balance came from the Florida Department of Transportation and the Lee County Port Authority. The runway was completely resurfaced with a four-inch mill and overlay.
Both Taxiways A and C now form a full-length parallel to the runway, allowing for more efficient movement across the airfield. A new electrical vault was also installed with an airfield lighting control and monitoring system for the all-new LED lighting. All direct-buried airfield lighting conductors were replaced during the course of the work, running now in conduits, which will better maintain the integrity of the circuits and allow for easier and safer repairs.
Phase two, which is expected to be completed this summer, involves similar work on the airport’s crosswind Runway 13/31. Along with new LED lighting, it will receive a two-inch mill and overlay of the center 100 feet, and a complete reconstruction of the outer 25-foot shoulders. Grooving will be added to provide better performance in wet weather conditions, and Taxiway E will be extended to the approach end of Runway 13, eliminating the need to cross the active runway, or back-taxi for full-length departures.
“When this project is complete, virtually every part of the airfield will have been improved in some way,” said Scott Sheets, the airport’s director of general aviation. “With more than 100,000 operations per year, we wanted to ensure that our airport users stayed informed and were inconvenienced as little as possible.”