JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The fighter jet escorted down 103rd Street and Timuquana Road early Tuesday morning is the first of many that will make the trip while the runway at NAS Jacksonville is being rebuilt.
News4Jax viewer C.J. Ames was stopped at the intersection to allow the jet to be escorted down the street by airport employees and Jacksonville Sheriff's Office patrol units.
Recommended Videos
"I am sitting at the light watching, and all of the sudden the fighter jet starts coming down 103rd Street," Ames said. "I had to do a double-take. It did not seem natural to me to see a plane coming down the highway."
News4Jax learned that the F/A-18 was being towed through the Westside to Cecil Airport after it was serviced at the Fleet Readiness Center.
A spokeswoman for the facility said this will happen once or twice a week until the runways at the Navy base are open again.
NAS Jax closed its 75-year-old runways June 8 to begin $51.9 million in repairs. The last upgrade of the runways was in 1986. For years the airfield has dealt with cracks in the pavement and pooling of water during rain storms.
Rebuilding the runway is expected to take until the spring of 2016.
With the base's runway closed, all fixed wing operations with nearly 2,100 personnel are operating out of Cecil Airport. The Navy has spent nearly $10 million in leases, infrastructure improvements and operating costs at Cecil Airport and Commerce Center.
The Navy says it coordinates with police and the Florida Department of Transportation every time it needs to turn 103rd Street into an extended taxiway.