Narrative:

I was working the mid shift in the tower with everything combined. Every night something different is closed. That night runway 36L and runway 05 were closed as well as all the taxiways west of 36C. I was looking out at the airfield when I saw a lot of vehicles moving east on south taxiway which was closed at the time. At the same time I was watching the couple aircraft left in the airspace being vectored for the visual to 36C. I watched the vehicles turn north on V then right on V4. I expected them to stop but it appeared at least 1 of them entered the active. I checked the asdx and sure enough it showed a target on the active however this piece of equipment has been wrong in the past. A B717 checked in and I told him to continue because I had a vehicle issue. I tried to ascertain who was in that area by talking different airport vehicles on the frequency. I was not comfortable with the situation so I sent the B717 and the next aircraft over from 36C to 36R to land. Eventually I got an airport vehicle to go over to 36C and V4 and make sure there was nobody on the runway. He replied that they were clear and would hold short. I said they're holding short now but one vehicle was on the runway. He replied that one vehicle had gotten away from them. During this time we were trying to find out if 36C was supposed to be closed. They eventually closed 36C that night to work in that same area. There was no loss of separation since I sent the planes to a different runway so I didn't think it was something that had to be reported but after thinking about it and talking it over with a friend it was brought to my attention that it could still be considered a runway incursion and it was without doubt a unsafe situation. Recommendation; make sure that coordination is better as to what is closed and not closed.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Tower Controller working all positions combined on a mid shift described a runway incursion event indicating coordination regarding closures were lacking.

Narrative: I was working the mid shift in the Tower with everything combined. Every night something different is closed. That night Runway 36L and Runway 05 were closed as well as all the taxiways west of 36C. I was looking out at the airfield when I saw a lot of vehicles moving east on S Taxiway which was closed at the time. At the same time I was watching the couple aircraft left in the airspace being vectored for the visual to 36C. I watched the vehicles turn north on V then right on V4. I expected them to stop but It appeared at least 1 of them entered the active. I checked the ASDX and sure enough it showed a target on the active however this piece of equipment has been wrong in the past. A B717 checked in and I told him to continue because I had a vehicle issue. I tried to ascertain who was in that area by talking different airport vehicles on the frequency. I was not comfortable with the situation so I sent the B717 and the next aircraft over from 36C to 36R to land. Eventually I got an airport vehicle to go over to 36C and V4 and make sure there was nobody on the runway. He replied that they were clear and would hold short. I said they're holding short now but one vehicle was on the runway. He replied that one vehicle had gotten away from them. During this time we were trying to find out if 36C was supposed to be closed. They eventually closed 36C that night to work in that same area. There was no loss of separation since I sent the planes to a different runway so I didn't think it was something that had to be reported but after thinking about it and talking it over with a friend it was brought to my attention that it could still be considered a runway incursion and it was without doubt a unsafe situation. Recommendation; make sure that coordination is better as to what is closed and not closed.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.