Trains used to help in runway project at FLL

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (WSVN) -- South Florida railways are being put to work thanks to a new runway being built at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

"It's a very massive project," said Florida East Coast Railway Vice President Bob Ledoux.

About 3.5 million tons of limestone is needed for the new runway, which is enough to fill the Louisiana Superdome. "Because the runway is elevated, they need about 7 million cubic yards of fill," said Allan Siegel of the Broward County Aviation Department.

The rock will be creating the new runway that will be about a mile and a half long and raised.

Because of the massive amount of rock needed for the project, officials are using trains to transport it. "It takes about eight hours to unload the train at the airport," said Ledoux.

The airport gets about 160 rail cars every single day. The cars are filled with 98 tons of limestone. "As you can see, the loading trucks bring the rocks here and load them onto the rail cars where they're transported to the project site," said Sara Engdahl of Cemex.

Once the runway is complete, it is going to be about 60 feet tall.

The project has created more than 10,000 jobs, and the total price tag is about $791 million. "If we don't build a new south runway, the average delay will be about 22 minutes, and that's an estimate by the FAA.," said Siegel.

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