The repaving of the runway Renton Municipal Airport was finished Monday – a day ahead of schedule – allowing Boeing to begin sending off a backlog of Renton-built 737s for final production.

The runway was shut down on July 31.

The $4.3 million project was mostly paid for with a grant from the Federal Aviation Administration. Revenues from the city-owned airport accounted for five percent of the project cost, or about $219,000.

The final part of the project is to cut grooves into the asphalt, which will improve braking in wet conditions. That work will be done in the evening during the next two weeks or so and is not expected to affect most airport operations.

More-than-the-usual number of 737s will take off for Boeing Field over the next few days as Boeing works through the backlog of recently built jets.

The project, two years in the planning, was closely coordinated with Boeing and its production schedule.

More than 32,000 tons of asphalt – about 1,200 truckloads – was applied to the runway. The project included repaving and grooving the entire asphalt area of the runway, repairing and replacing concrete panels, installing drains to carry away rain water and repainting the runway surface.

The majority of the work took place over nine days and construction crews worked around the clock so that the runway was ready to reopen on time. The project employed more than 100 construction workers.

“Our staff and the contractors have done an outstanding job improving our runway and adding immeasurable value to our airport while saving taxpayer dollars in the process,” said Renton Mayor Denis Law in a press release.