Cameron County court backs TxDOT recommendation to shorten and narrow primary runway at county airport

The Cameron County Commissioners Court on July 22 approved moving forward with a draft airport layout plan that would shorten the airport's primary runway, Runway 13'/31, from 8,000 feet by 200 feet to 6,000 feet by 100 feet and add a new parallel taxiway.

County officials said the change follows recommendations from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Aviation and the county's consultants to "right-size" the runway for the types of business and general aviation aircraft expected at the airport. Eric Pfeiffer of Kaufman Associates, the consultant working on the layout plan, told the court the county's runway currently "exceeds, based upon our runway length analysis, the necessary length" and that modern aircraft are more runway efficient, requiring less runway length than older models.

The court approved the recommendation by motion of Commissioner Garza, seconded by Commissioner Lopez; the motion carried by voice vote.

Why it matters: County staff and consultants said a 6,000-by-100-foot runway would meet the operational needs of the airport now and over the next 20 years, including the types of turboprop and business jets used for routine and emergency operations. Pfeiffer cited FEMA operations elsewhere as an example, saying a 5,400-foot runway accommodated emergency aircraft during flooding in a nearby county.

Details and next steps: Kaufman Associates will finalize the plan and a capital improvement program assigning cost estimates to individual projects. Pfeiffer estimated the capital cost at roughly $6,000,000 and said the county had negotiated a 5% local match; he said final costs would depend on the capital improvement program. The consultant estimated submittal of the finalized layout plan to TxDOT and the Federal Aviation Administration would follow the final planning advisory committee meeting, with TxDOT/FAA review taking an additional three to four months, possibly longer because of FAA backlog. Pfeiffer said he expected the project to be completed by late this year or early next year, but cautioned the timeline could extend.

Court discussion noted that narrowing the runway would not remove or demolish existing pavement; runway ends will be re-marked to reflect the 6,000-foot operational length and the remainder of the paved surface would be retained and maintained for possible future re-expansion to 8,000 feet if traffic warrants. Commissioners asked about timing; county staff and the consultant said funds in TxDOT programming show work occurring across 2026'28, making construction not immediate.

Provenance: Discussion introduced during agenda item on airport layout plan (transcript segment starting ~s=496.19) and concluded with final timeline/cost remarks (~s=1003.83).