The old OXCART runway, built in 1960, was extended on the southern end in the late 1980s due to deterioration on the northern end from alkali leaching into the concrete from the lakebed. At the same time the northern section was closed, reducing the active runway length to about 10,000 feet, so you could say the runway was actually shortened rather than lengthened. The "expansion" was an illusion. The closure only became apparent with the advent of high-resolution satellite imagery. Eventually that entire runway was closed and replaced by the newer 12,000-foot concrete airstrip that was built in the early 1990s.