BELLEVUE- After an 18-month hiatus at the Lincoln Airport, planes will return to Offut Air Force Base.

They will land on a brand-new runway, fully reconstructed for the first time since the airfield was built in 1941.

It brings to a close an 18-month construction project that was years in the making, executed at a cost of $200 million to the Air Force: $169 million for the new runway and apron and $31 million for the temporary facilities at Lincoln.

That’s within budget and on time, said Rob Hufford, chief of construction management for the project.

“This has been a large part of my professional life for the last four years,” Hufford said. “It’s nice to see it coming to an end.”

At 150 feet wide, the new concrete runway is the same width as the old one. But the 25-foot shoulders on either side are a third as wide as before, consistent with modern safety standards. This change will help with snow removal in the winter.

The new surface is 19 inches thick, a combination of concrete and asphalt he said will be easier to maintain than the old one.

For years, the old surface had been crumbling. Offutt airmen had to be especially watchful for loose chunks of asphalt and other debris, which are dangerous if ingested into a jet engine.

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