VIA held groundbreaking ceremony for air traffic control tower

HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Valley International Airport held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new air traffic control tower on Wednesday.

The new tower is set to replace the original one that was built in 1971.

Modifications have been made in order to handle more air traffic.

"We had a lot to go through, you can imagine how complicated an air traffic control tower is," said Mark Esterly, Director of Aviation for VIA. "So we went through the design phase and finished that. We had to do certain visual studies on the airfield and now we're at that phase where we're ready to begin construction as we work with our partners in the FAA."

Construction for the new tower is expected to be completed by next year.