Starting at midnight, there will be no flights coming in or out of Medford’s airport for more than a day.
The closure runs through 9 a.m. on Wednesday for a total of 33 hours.
A spokesperson for the airport said emergency flights will be re-directed to the Ashland and Grants Pass airports.
Last month, the airport’s director said it will take five weeks to complete the project with nightly runway closures from midnight to 5 a.m. Monday through Friday until October 7.
But the airport needed more time to do certain upgrades leading to the 33-hour closure.
“We’re really trying to accommodate everyone,” MFR airport director Jerry Brienza said. “But yet we still have work to do too. We have construction work to do. So we’re trying to appeal to the majority I guess.”
Airport leaders said cracks in the pavement will be sealed and the entire runway will be seal-coated.
20-year-old lights will also be replaced with LED’s.
Senator Wyden and Merkley’s offices said MFR got $2 million in federal funding for these improvements.
We tried reaching out to the Medford Air Tanker Base to find out how tanker operations will be affected at the airport, the base declined to comment.
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