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One of the air traffic control towers at Oakland International Airport pictured Nov. 2, 2007

Work on a new air traffic control tower at the Oakland International Airport had to stop Friday, along with dozens of other projects at airports across the country, because of an impasse in Congress over funding for the Federal Aviation Administration.

Lawmakers have passed 20 temporary extensions of the agency's funding bill since 2007. Now, Republicans and Democrats are at an impasse over a few contentious provisions: ending subsidies for flights to rural airports and a proposal to make it more difficult for airline workers to unionize.

Congress allowed the most recent extension to expire Friday without passing a new bill. On Sunday, the FAA furloughed about 4,000 employees who oversee infrastructure and modernization projects, like Oakland's $31 million effort to replace the two towers that currently control flights into and out of the airport.

The new tower was scheduled to be completed by March 2012. Devcon Construction had planned to bring in a crane this week to start working on the exterior surface of the 236-foot steel structure.

But when the FAA issued a stop-work order on the project at about 2:30 p.m. Friday, Devcon’s environmental manager on the project, Dan Anello, had to send home 60 construction workers.

“The subcontractors we’ve had removed all their equipment Friday afternoon,” Anello said. “We’re just waiting on the word to keep going on.”

Most of the highest-dollar projects now on hold nationwide are for upgrading control towers, but the FAA's stop-work order also impacts funding for smaller jobs like roof construction, building fences and electric work.

“The fact that Congress can't work this out is exactly why the American people are so fed up with Washington,” Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood said on a conference call with reporters Monday morning. “Pass a clean bill, work out your differences so 4,000 people can go back to work.”

LaHood said he doesn’t understand why lawmakers can't pass an extension while they work to resolve the other, more contentious issues.

“Take out this very onerous language and provisions, and save the debate for another day where they can debate central air service and the labor provision,” he said. “We need a bill today.”

The sooner the better for the Oakland airport. 

The new tower is “something we’ve been needing for more efficient operations,” said Joanne Holloway, an airport spokeswoman.

Anello said he hopes his crews can get working again while the weather is still good.

“Anywhere you’ve got rain, you want to get your major excavation in for the dry season. That’s why we’re concerned,” he said. “Being stopped indefinitely in summer doesn’t help.”

The staff needed to run the airport — and the existing control towers — remain on duty, Holloway said.