Pothole Shuts Down San Francisco Airport Runway

Image: PHOTO: Aerial view of San Francisco International Airport. (photo via Bill_Dally/iStock/Getty Images Plus)
Image: PHOTO: Aerial view of San Francisco International Airport. (photo via Bill_Dally/iStock/Getty Images Plus)
Alex Temblador
by Alex Temblador
Last updated: 4:30 PM ET, Thu April 11, 2019

A pothole has temporarily shut down one of San Francisco International Airport's runways on Thursday and travelers are not happy.

The 12-inch depression appeared on Runway 28L and crews have been hard at work trying to fix it. The airport expects the airstrip will remain closed until 3 p.m.

KOLO 8 News reported that the pothole is at an intersection with Runway 1R and that runway will be closed this afternoon, so it isn't quite clear if they'll make the 3 p.m. deadline.

"During a dawn inspection our airfield team found a 12-inch pavement depression on Runway 28L. We've closed that runway to patch the area, which will take a few hours," SFO rep Doug Yakel told Fox News. "During that time, we may experience delays similar to those we see during bad weather

With the pothole maintenance underway, flights at the San Francisco airport are delayed by about 35 minutes.

Travelers took to social media to express their annoyance by the delays.

The airport already had some plans to repair Runway 28L in September. For 20 days, the runway will be shut down to "construct a new base layer below the runway surface," according to KOLO 8.


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