Breaking ground on a new primary runway
- October 12, 2023
- Posted by: Jacob Rigg
- Category: Blog
RTA members and partners,
Our friends at RDU celebrated another huge win on Wednesday, October 11th, just on the heels of the announcement of the upcoming Lufthansa transatlantic flight to Germany.
RDU held a ceremonial groundbreaking ceremony for construction of a new, longer, primary runway 5L-23R. While our existing primary runway has had a long and storied history in service to our region, it is time for an update to the most important two miles of pavement in our growing community.
During the event, RDU President and CEO Michael Landguth thanked the regional business community for the ongoing letter writing campaign which has helped deliver more than $100m in federal support thus far. Landguth noted that the work will not be done until RDU has maximized our fair share in federal funding assistance for the runway.
Landguth was quoted in the News & Observer: “Every single time I go to D.C., they tell me the same thing: Can you get them to stop sending letters? And I tell them the same thing every time: At the point you can provide us consistent funding for this runway, we’ll stop sending the letters.”
I spoke with N&O reporter Richard Stradling at the event about runway, noting that “The letter-writing campaign will continue; we’re going to be nice and continue to politely do it, because the need is still there.”
If you would like to write an additional letter of support — or perhaps write one for the first time — you can find an updated, simplified template on our website.
Let’s get moving, and let’s optimize those federal dollars for RDU.
Joe Milazzo II, PE
RTA executive director
