Austin-Bergstrom International Airport announced on Friday that the final bridge beam has been installed for its New Midfield Taxiways project, a milestone officials say brings the airfield one step closer to connecting its east and west sides. The announcement capped months of structural work on a pair of aircraft-rated bridges designed to carry some of the heaviest jets in commercial service.
“The final bridge beam has been installed for our New Midfield Taxiways project,” Austin-Bergstrom International Airport
said in a post on X, adding that the milestone brings the facility “one step closer to better connecting AUS for the journey ahead.” The project is part of what the airport calls Journey With AUS, described on its website as the facility's “multi-year airport expansion, development and improvement program,” according to
flyaustin.com
.
Two Taxiways, Two Bridges, One Airfield Reconnected
The project calls for two new concrete parallel taxiways, each 4,170 feet long, running from Taxiway C on the west side of the airfield to Taxiway B on the east, per flyaustin.com. Those taxiways, along with the new bridges, are meant to link the airfield's two halves and restore access to the existing maintenance ramp that construction had disrupted. The work also includes new utilities, sustainability elements and lighting woven into the broader buildout.
The scale of the undertaking is substantial: the project encompasses about 1.58 miles of new taxiways, flyaustin.com notes, all built with an eye toward enabling a future midfield concourse with more than 20 gates. The airport's own materials describe that future structure as a 26-gate Concourse B, which the new taxiways and bridges are designed to support once built.
Beams Rated for the Heaviest Jets in the Sky
The structural muscle behind the announcement came from Austin Bridge & Road, which separately reported finishing the installation of all 49 beams for the Taxiway P Bridge. According to Austin Industries, the crew set the beams in just two shifts, with roughly half going up each day. The firm says the bridges were engineered to support a Boeing 777-300ER at its maximum takeoff weight of 775,000 pounds, with an additional 25% of load capacity built in to accommodate heavier aircraft down the line.
That engineering effort began months before this week's milestone. Construction on the taxiway bridges started in mid-2025 as part of the broader expansion, according to a project summary from HDR, the firm that worked on the structures.
Groundbreaking and a Fuzzy Finish Line
The Midfield Taxiways project officially broke ground in 2024, according to RS&H, one of the firms involved in the design work. RS&H has said the finished taxiways are expected to “significantly improve airfield connectivity, facilitating smoother and more efficient aircraft movements” once complete. The completed project is expected to improve aircraft movement and support future terminal development.
RS&H and Community Impact have reported differing timelines for when that finish line will actually arrive. RS&H has reported the project was scheduled for completion in 2026, while Community Impact has reported an expected completion by spring 2027; the discrepancy remains unresolved in public materials.
