RDU Plans to Build 7,000 New Parking Spaces. What Will That Mean for the Environment?

To nearly triple the size of its biggest remote parking lot, Raleigh-Durham International Airport will need to clear 120 acres of land near William B. Umstead State Park and pave 65 acres of it.

But RDU should be able to build and maintain the expanded lot without affecting the park or harming streams and wetlands on the property or downstream, according to an analysis the airport released late Friday. The 69-page report and eight appendices outline steps the airport would take to try to minimize the parking lot’s impact on the environment.

RDU plans to add about 7,000 spaces to Park Economy 3, the lot off National Guard Drive near the site of the Sheetz gas station on Aviation Parkway. The lot now has 3,820 spaces, served by shuttle buses that carry passengers to and from the airport terminals.

The airport plans to start construction this fall, in hopes of finishing the lot by the end of 2025.

RDU says it needs the additional spaces in part to keep up with growing demand for parking at the airport. Air travel has returned to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, and the Federal Aviation Administration expects passenger growth to average 6% a year between now and 2030, according to the RDU report.

Airport officials also say they need to make up for the planned loss of parking elsewhere. They expect to temporarily lose up to 2,500 spaces near Terminal 2 when they demolish two old parking decks to expand the terminal building and reroute the road in front of it. The first of that work is expected to begin in 2025.

The airport also plans to close the Park Economy 4 remote lot north of the terminals. The land that 2,730-space lot now occupies will eventually be used to expand the air cargo complex at the north end of the main runway.

Public workshop planned for Thursday

Park Economy 3 now covers about 36 acres surrounded by forest. RDU plans to expand in three directions, creating new, irregularly-shaped lots that avoid streams and allow room for seven new ponds for controlling storm runoff. The pond system would meet a state requirement that it capture and treat runoff from the first inch of rain that falls on an impervious area over 48 to 72 hours, according to RDU’s report.

At the closest point, the new parking lot will be about 112 feet from Umstead State Park property and about 2,200 feet from the closest park trail, according to the report. The airport plans to use LED lights on 30-foot poles that it says will minimize “the impact of lighting off-site.”

“Based on topography and the presence of dense tree cover, the project would not be visible from the closest trail within William B. Umstead State Park,” the report says.

Airport officials determined that neither state nor federal law required them to produce a report on the environmental impacts of the parking lot expansion.

But under pressure from people concerned about Umstead and at the urging of some members of the Airport Authority, RDU’s governing board, airport officials developed their own environmental review policy that includes reports like the one released Friday and a chance for the public to weigh in.

The airport will hold a public workshop on the parking lot expansion project on Thursday, July 20, from 5 to 7 p.m. in Room 100 of the Airport Authority’s building at 1000 Trade Drive. RDU will also accept written comments on the environmental report until 5 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 4.

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