Travelers to and from San Francisco may see extra delays this year as San Francisco International Airport temporarily shuts down a few runways over the coming months.

Airport spokesman Doug Yakel says those closures could mean departure delays of between 30-45 minutes for travelers on shorter, West Coast flights.

The San Mateo County Times reports  crews will be tacking tarmac onto the existing Runway 28-L and Runway 28R and moving landing lights and other infrastructure in January, April and June.

Yakel says the multiyear construction project is needed because of federally required lengthening of runways that is aimed at making air travel safer.

The federally funded work is expected to finish by the fall of 2015.