New Orleans Airport Faces at Least $40 Million in Damages;Runways Were Rebuilt Just in Time, Says Official
The reconstruction of an airfield may have been completed in the nick of time. Officials at New Orleans' Louis Armstrong Airport were literally finishing up an $83-million airfield reconstruction program last week before Hurricane Katrina hit. That may have made all the difference in enabling the airport's two runways to reopen for emergency relief operations, according to Mario Rodriguez, a civil engineer and deputy director of planning and development for the airport.
About a year ago, new airport director Roy Williams prioritized repaving and reconstruction of the 10,000-ft runways over terminal refurbishment, says Rodriguez. "We didn't have a crystal ball, but we'd known the runways' elevation had to be raised" in case of a hurricane, Rodriguez said Friday evening, speaking by phone from an emergency office in Dallas. Crews had installed polystyrene sections to address settlement, taken out the old concrete topped with asphalt layers, and poured new concrete, while raising the runway elevations by about 18 inches. "It made the difference," he says. "The runways stayed dry."