OAKLAND — Scores of local airport construction workers either laid off or on furlough hoped to go back to work after Congress agreed on a debt ceiling deal Tuesday but were crushed to find no end to a partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration.
Though air traffic controllers are still guiding pilots across the sky, construction projects and efforts to modernize or expand airports have been on hold since July 23, when the agency’s authorization from Congress expired.
Frozen Bay Area projects include a new air traffic control tower in Oakland and seismic work at airports in Livermore and Palo Alto.
“Politics and recesses are at the heart of these decisions,” said Pete Figueiredo, treasurer for the Operating Engineers Local No. 3, at a news conference Tuesday at Oakland International Airport. Continue reading the full article by Sean Maher of the Oakland Tribune – Inside Bay Area.
