Ft Lauderdale broke ground on Monday, January 23, 2012 with an earth mover scooping out the first ceremonial load of dirt, for the new project of expanding the Ft Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport South Runway expansion.
US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Acting FAA Administrator Michael Huerta attended to help break ground for the $791 million runway extension on Monday.

"This is one of the largest and most important airport construction projects in the country right now," said Secretary LaHood. "Modernizing our airport infrastructure will keep our economy moving forward, and put thousands of Americans back to work."

Nearly two decades in the making, the runway expansion will be about six stories high and travel over highways and railroad tracks to the east of the airport. Drivers will pass under it and planes will take off and land on its sloped surface.

One of Florida’s largest transportation projects, Broward’s Director of Aviation Kent George said when completed the runway will help reduce flight delays at one of the nation’s fastest-growing airports. The project will extend, shift and lengthen Runway 9R/27L from 5,276 feet to 8,000 feet, giving the airport two parallel runways that can accommodate air carrier flights. Parallel runways can increase airport capacity dramatically, and this expansion will increase the airport’s capacity from 84 flights per hour to 107 per hour, DOT said. Without the runway expansion, delays could reach more than 10 minutes per flight.

When construction activity peaks next year, the project will contribute more than $1 million per day to the local economy, according to Broward County officials. It will generate thousands of direct and indirect jobs by the time the runway opens in fall 2014 which will also dramatically increase the need for Fort Lauderdale shuttle service.

The FAA has issued a Letter of Intent to provide $250 million in Airport Improvement Program funding over 12 years for the project. More than 22 million passengers fly through Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport annually, ranking it 22nd in total passenger traffic in the United States. Many of the passengers flying in are there to board one of the many luxury cruise ships going out of Port Everglades, considered the cruise capital of the world. There are more than 600 flights fly in and out of the airport daily to more than 60 U.S. cities and international destinations in Canada, the Bahamas, the Caribbean, Mexico, Latin American, and Europe. With the massive influx of passengers arriving at FLL and Port Everglades there is an even greater demand for convenient and reliable ground transportation transfer to and from the airport and cruise port for Fort Lauderdale airport transportation services.

Terry Stiles, CEO of the Stiles Corp., said it couldn’t come at a better time, "Fortunately I think we’ve hit the bottom in the recession," said Stiles, "A project of this magnitude will give us an uplift and put eleven thousand people to work, it’s huge for our community."