Naples Airport elevates runway lighting
- Naples Airport has started a $25.4 million airfield lighting rebuild that raises runway and taxiway lights above flood-prone pavement after Hurricane Ian damage. - The project will install 1,080 watertight LED edge lights 20 inches above ground and replace the airport’s electrical vault with a storm-resilient design. - It matters because Naples says this makes APF the first coastal airport in the South using elevated lighting specifically to speed post-surge recovery.
Airport lighting sounds like boring infrastructure. But at a coastal airport, those little lights are part of the difference between getting back online fast after a storm and sitting dark while crews rebuild. That is the point of what Naples Airport is doing now. The airport has kicked off a $25.4 million project to replace its airfield lighting system and rebuild its electrical vault with a design meant to survive storm surge better than the old one. ### What actually changed? Naples Airport has moved from planning into construction. The project is called the Airfield Lighting Rehabilitation and Electrical Vault Replacement Project, and airport officials marked the start with a groundbreaking in early May 2026. The work covers runway and taxiway edge lights, signs, cables, conduits, pavement markings, and the electrical vault that powers and controls the system. (wgcu.org) ### Why mess with runway lights? Because Hurricane Ian exposed a weak point. In September 2022, seawater flooded the airfield, damaged lighting and signage, and came close to flooding the existing lighting vault too. That vault is a critical node — if it goes down, the airport loses the electrical backbone for runway and taxiway lighting. Basically, the storm showed Naples that “replace what broke” was not enough; the airport needed to redesign the system around flooding. (gulfcoastnewsnow.com) ### What is Naples building differently? The big change is elevation. Naples says it will install 1,080 watertight edge lights along runways and taxiways, with the fixtures sitting 20 inches above ground instead of close to the pavement. The airport is also swapping older incandescent equipment for LED lights, which should be brighter and use less energy. Think of it like moving your breaker box off the basement floor before the next storm, not after it. (avconinc.com) ### Why does 20 inches matter? Storm surge damage is often about inches, not just feet. If saltwater overtops parts of the airfield, lights and connections that sit low can get soaked, corroded, or knocked out even if the pavement itself survives. Raising the fixtures does not make the airport flood-proof, but it does reduce the odds that a surge event wipes out the lighting system and slows reopening. That is the real operating goal here — faster recovery after overtopping, not pretending storms will stop happening. (wgcu.org) ### What about the electrical vault? The vault may be the most important piece. Airport lighting is not just a row of bulbs; it depends on a centralized electrical system that powers and controls the airfield. Naples has been planning since 2023 to relocate or rebuild that vault in a more resilient position after Ian nearly reached the old one. The current construction package includes a new storm-resilient vault design, which matters because hardened lights are less useful if the control system still sits in harm’s way. (wgcu.org) ### Is this really unusual? Naples is framing it as first-of-its-kind for a coastal airport in the South, and its own project materials go even further, calling it the first warm-weather airport with a raised lighting system. That wording matters. Airports in colder regions sometimes use elevated fixtures for snow or operational reasons, but Naples is selling this as a surge-resilience design choice for a warm coastal airfield. In other words, the novelty is not “lights on poles.” It is why they are being raised and where. (avconinc.com) ### Who pays for this kind of thing? Airport lighting projects often rely on a mix of airport funds and FAA grant support, because lighting, markings, and taxiway systems are standard Airport Improvement Program categories. Naples’ annual report says it awarded more than $25 million in construction and engineering work to harden key airfield infrastructure after Ian. So this is part of a broader resilience push, not a one-off gadget project. (wgcu.org) ### Bottom line? Naples Airport is turning a post-Ian repair into a climate-hardening retrofit. The deeper idea is simple — if coastal airports know flooding is coming again, the smart move is to rebuild the vulnerable stuff higher, tighter, and easier to restart. (wgcu.org) (faa.gov)
