LaGuardia Shuts Runway 4/22 Over 2-Inch Depression, Triggering 24 Cancellations

Q: Is an ongoing fuel line project causing sinkholes on LaGuardia's main runway?

No definitive link has been established, but an ongoing fuel line project is being examined as a possible factor. LaGuardia and Port Authority officials have said the exact cause of the recurring pavement failures on Runway 4/22 remains under investigation. Reports indicate investigators are considering whether nearby fuel line tunneling or related construction work may have contributed, along with weather and subsurface conditions. But no agency has publicly confirmed that the fuel line project caused the latest depression or the earlier sinkhole. What is confirmed is that inspectors found a roughly two-inch-deep pavement depression next to the runway, prompting a precautionary closure. This was the second closure of the same runway area in less than a month after a similar sinkhole incident around Memorial Day. Aviation and pavement experts generally point to water intrusion, shifting groundwater, drainage problems, and weakened subsurface layers as common causes of this kind of runway deterioration. Those factors can be worsened by nearby excavation or tunneling, which is why the fuel line work is a plausible line of inquiry, but still only a hypothesis at this stage. So the best-supported answer is that the fuel line project may be involved, but there is not yet proof that it is causing the sinkholes.

3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jun 18

Runway 4/22 closed at 5 p.m. Wednesday after inspectors found a 2-inch pavement depression beside the airstrip, with LaGuardia saying the shutdown was precautionary and posed no immediate safety threat.
24 cancellations and 17 delays followed, while arriving flights were delayed by an average of 48 minutes after disruptions had earlier climbed as high as 174 delays.
Overnight crews are testing the pavement, investigating the cause and performing stabilization work, while flights are being shifted to LaGuardia’s other main runway, 13/31, until Thursday morning.
The closure is the second in less than a month on the same stretch of pavement, after a sinkhole near the Memorial Day travel rush forced earlier emergency engineering work.