RDU Expansion/2040 Master Plan

[keita]

The N&O and TBJ reported that many of RDU’s Vision 2040 expansion plans like a longer main runway, additional gates, or a new rental car facility are put on ice and/or downgraded.

This is because, in part, of how the COVID pandemic dragging on has made it difficult to predict how many people will fly out of RDU (and, thus, need more parking facilities beyond what we have now).

Not that RDU's expansion plans are screwed, though. Click here to read the details.

@From the N&O Article

RDU’s main runway, on the west side of the airport in front of Terminal 2, was completed in 1986 and is nearing the end of its useful life. Contractors have replaced hundreds of slabs of crumbling concrete in recent years, working mostly at night when the runway isn’t needed.

[…]

Before the pandemic, RDU was planning several construction projects to meet growing demand, including new gates in both terminals, a new centralized car rental facility and expansion of one of its remote parking lots. Those projects have been shelved, and [RDU CEO Michael] Landguth has said RDU doesn’t expect to even need its existing remote parking lots until 2024.

Shortening the planned runway will allow RDU to replace it faster and at lower cost, according to spokeswoman Stephanie Hawco. The new runway was expected to cost $350 million, and Hawco said RDU hasn’t yet calculated the savings from making it shorter.

Not that the proposed upgrades are permanently dead, though. For example:

@Michael Landguth

As we replace the runway at 10,000 feet, staff preserve [sic] the option for future extension.

This downgraded runway replacement is actually also a blessing in disguise! RDU expected to go through the painful Environmental Impact Review (EIR) process to get its Vision 2040 projects federally cleared in one broad stroke. The MOU that spelled out FAA’s approval for Vision 2040 back in 2019, turns out, was conditioned on this being successful.

But because of this downgrade, the FAA decided it’s okay to just do environmental studies on the runway separately from the other expansion projects -and that the runway project can get away with the much simpler Environmental Assessment (EA). This result was explained during the RDU board meeting that’s behind this article:

Here’s timestamped YouTube links to the board meeting, specifically for discussions on replacing the long runway near Terminal 2, and a board a member’s question about the current Vision 2040 scope.