{"id":36461,"date":"2026-09-07T17:39:46","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T17:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/?p=36461"},"modified":"2026-09-07T17:41:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T17:41:46","slug":"msp-airport-to-close-runway-17-35-for-lighting-modernization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/news\/airports\/msp-airport-to-close-runway-17-35-for-lighting-modernization\/%20","title":{"rendered":"MSP Airport to Close Runway 17-35 for Lighting Modernization"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) Runway 17-35 will close Sept. 8 for six weeks to upgrade electrical systems on the runway and connected taxiways. During the project, crews will replace all existing elevated and in-pavement halogen fixtures with energy-efficient LED lighting along the entire runway \u2014 completing a multi-year effort to modernize airfield lighting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis final phase of work will bring the entire MSP airfield to all LED lighting, improving airfield visibility, advancing long-term sustainability, reducing energy use and enhancing operational reliability,\u201d said Bridget Rief, vice president of planning and development for the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC), which owns and operates MSP. \u201cIt\u2019s a formative milestone given the extensive phasing and coordination required to install more than 6,100 airfield lights while maintaining safe operations during those various projects.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/MSP-Runway-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-36463\" style=\"width:249px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/MSP-Runway-1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/MSP-Runway-1-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>MSP\u2019s Runway 17-35 will close on Sept. 8 for six weeks to upgrade electrical systems on the runway and connected taxiways. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Airports Commission<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are no major impacts to aircraft operations expected during the Runway 17\u201135 closure. Air traffic control will be able to assign departing or arriving flights to any of MSP\u2019s three other runways based on wind direction, air traffic demand and other operational factors. Air traffic will return to pre-construction operational patterns once the runway work is completed, currently scheduled no later than Oct. 17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The LED lighting project will involve converting hundreds of fixtures from 20 to 6.6 input amperage. The conversion will provide a significant reduction in energy usage and improved equipment longevity \u2014 runway lights decrease from 120 watts to 50 watts, while taxiway lights decrease from 45 watts to 15 watts. Life expectancy increases from 2,000 hours for incandescent to 50,000 for LED.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cModernizing airfield lighting supports our efforts to enhance resiliency and reduce the airport\u2019s total emissions, a key MAC sustainability goal,\u201d said Rief. \u201cThese upgrades will also reduce maintenance frequency and operational downtime with fewer replacement cycles due to the improved life expectancy of the new lights.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For the Runway 17\u201135 project phase alone, crews will install 436 runway lights and 617 taxiway lights \u2014 approximately 27% of the airfield\u2019s total light output. The project also includes LED upgrades to airfield signage and the replacement of regulators and transformers associated with the runway lighting system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MSP\u2019s airfield consists of four runways, 19 taxiways and 58 taxiway feeders with a total concrete pavement area that equals 210 lane miles (over 600 acres).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The MAC began reducing airfield lighting energy use at MSP in 2019 by converting Runway 4-22 taxiway lighting and signage from incandescent to LED. It later completed LED conversions on runways 12L-30R in 2024 and 12R-30L in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) Runway 17-35 will close Sept. 8 for six weeks to upgrade electrical systems on the runway and connected taxiways. During the project, crews will replace all existing elevated and in-pavement halogen fixtures with energy-efficient LED lighting along the entire runway \u2014 completing a multi-year effort to modernize airfield lighting. \u201cThis [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":36465,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[33,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-airports","category-minnesota"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/MSP-Runway-edit.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36461"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36464,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36461\/revisions\/36464"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}