MYR Expands Runway..

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Myrtle Beach International Airport (MYR) got three wins from one project when it completed a $60 million taxiway reconstruction in 2021.
Taxiway A, which ran parallel to MYR’s sole runway and served its commercial terminal, was one of the few remaining vestiges of a former military base. Translation: It was old, and the asphalt pavement had shoving, rutting, cracking and spalling. Maintenance was seemingly always in process, sometimes completely closing portions of the key taxiway to traffic.
Knowing something had to be done, MYR officials opted to build an entirely new taxiway. While reviewing airport planning documents, they realized project engineers could push the taxiway closer to the runway.



In the end, the nation’s second busiest single-runway airport got the new taxiway it sorely needed, and also netted two other valuable improvements: an airside service road (also sorely needed) and space for future terminal expansion where the old taxiway used to be.
Breck Dunne, director of airport development at MYR, notes that the new taxiway has 30- to 40-year pavement life to serve commercial carriers and other traffic. “Construction provided numerous jobs to the community, and the new taxiway will help us generate more air traffic and bring more commerce to the airport,” he adds.
Dire Straits
The project was a long time coming, with airport personnel carefully monitoring the pavement deterioration year after year. “We were seeing severe rutting and shoving,” Dunne recalls. “With the old pavement and extreme summer heat, the asphalt would get soft. And with increased air traffic and larger aircraft, we were seeing even more rutting and shoving.”