RDU to Receive Stimulus Funds for Runway Lighting Project

RDU Airport, NC – The Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority has learned it will receive a $4.5 million grant funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The stimulus funds, which will be distributed by the Federal Aviation Administration, will be used to upgrade lights on the airfield.

The project, which will begin later this spring, will allow the airport to replace more than 2,000 runway and taxiway lights with light emitting diodes (LED). Guidance signs on the airfield will also be replaced with LED lighted signs. The majority of work will be completed on the runway adjacent to Terminal 2.

Currently, the majority of RDU's airfield lights are quartz, which must be replaced approximately every six months. Each LED light lasts approximately 13 years, greatly decreasing required airfield maintenance and lowering related costs. The lights will also reduce RDU's energy costs by up to 60 percent.

Once the project is complete, RDU will be one of the first airports in the country to use LED-only lighting on its airfield.

RDU recently replaced the taxiway lights located on the east side of the airport with LED lighting. The FAA grant will allow the airport to upgrade the remaining lights on the airfield located adjacent to Terminal 1.

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