What We're Hearing From Your Vision 2040 Comments
Public involvement in our Vision 2040 master planning process continues to be a major focus. This summer, we’ve had many opportunities to hear from members of the public about our vision for the airport’s future.
We’ve met with people in-person at our public workshops and in one-on-one meetings, and had fruitful discussion through our Vision 2040 website and on social media.
We are committed to having a two-way conversation with our community about our master plan and the changes it will bring about to RDU’s infrastructure over the next 25 years.
And, there are many more opportunities to provide us with feedback and questions. We encourage people to continue sending us ideas, questions and comments via our website, or at workshops currently being planned for later this Fall.
What We’re Hearing
To date, we have received about 400 comments from the public via our website, social media and through comment cards turned in at public workshops. We have taken each comment into consideration as we work toward a final alternative for development.
View comments received through noon on August 25 here. We'll update this list in the coming days as we receive new comments daily.
Lake Crabtree
One item we have been hearing feedback from the public on is concern around the airport’s land adjacent to Lake Crabtree County Park.
As we talk about Lake Crabtree, it is important to provide some historical context. Back in 1985, RDU leased the land adjacent to the Lake Crabtree Park area (Parcel 1 on the map below) to Wake County for a county park. In 1994, the lease was amended to include land adjacent to the park for recreational purposes including mountain biking.
The only portion of airport land that mountain bikers have permission to use is land managed by Wake County between I-40 and Lake Crabtree (Parcel 2 on the map).
Trail creation and usage on other sections of airport property, especially north of I-40 and along Reedy Creek Road, commonly referred to as “286” (Parcel 3) or “Rocky Road” (Parcel 4) is trespassing on airport property.
Within the terms of the agreement, we can terminate the lease if the land needs to be used to support aeronautical purposes, in accordance with our federal obligations. This is a condition agreed to by Wake County in their management of the property.
Moving forward, we are willing to have further conversations with groups about ways to incorporate recreational use within the property that fall within the constraints of our federal obligations, and meet the changing needs of the airport.
Other Topics
We have also heard from many of you that you want an airport that is easily accessible and is prepared to meet the future demands for air travel. We appreciate and agree with that sentiment. We have proudly worked with many groups in our community to support the community’s choice of transit connection to the airport.
Also, many of your comments have focused on amenities and services that you’d like to see at RDU one day. While these types of decisions aren’t part of the master planning process, we’ve shared each one with our customer service team as they continue to look for ways to elevate your experience at the airport.
Your comments and questions are crucial to our master plan process. Please keep them coming. Thank you for your feedback and participation. View our Vision 2040 Master Plan FAQs.