RTA Member Briefing: April 11
- April 11, 2025
- Posted by: Jacob Rigg
- Category: Member briefing
RTA members and partners,
Earlier this week, Raleigh/Durham Airport Authority president and CEO Michael Landguth testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Aviation. The hearing was entitled “America Builds: Airport Infrastructure, Safety, and Regulatory Reform.”
His remarks focused on three key themes:
- Expressing gratitude to Congress for efforts to streamline regulatory and environmental processes
- Emphasizing the critical need for infrastructure modernization and the importance of the Passenger Facility Charge (PFC)
- Supporting Air Traffic Control (ATC) modernization and improved coordination across the aviation community
To review Mike’s written testimony, please view this PDF. To view his introduction, initial remarks, and the broader hearing, click here.
The private and public sectors continue to be aligned in the metropolitan Triangle about the need for purposeful federal investments to rapidly improve essential airport infrastructure. The recommendations from the RTA’s Airport Infrastructure Development (AID) task force — both in the initial 2020 task force report, released prior to the pandemic, and again in the 2021 task force follow-up report — recommended an increase in the PFC. The task force also endorsed a maximum three year time limit for all FAA approvals. RTA’s top strategic priority continues to be the creation of a sustainable business model at RDU International — read more in this week’s blog.
US 1 / Capital improvements — public comment available
RTA continues to support the accelerated upgrade of US 1 / Capital Boulevard to a multimodal freeway — this remains the regional business community’s top rapid implementation initiative for our market across all modes of travel. The Capital Area MPO has activated a public comment page about tolling options for Capital Boulevard. We have endorsed the accelerated transformation of US 1 north of I-540 to a multimodal freeway via dedicated toll revenue, potentially with a reduced toll rate during off-peak periods. RTA will submit formal comments in the coming days, and we will provide additional information via a dedicated communication to our members for each of you to engage directly in the outreach process.
Have a great weekend, everyone.
Joe Milazzo II, PE
RTA executive director
