The contract
The Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority has awarded a $400 million runway replacement contract to Balfour Beatty, covering the reconstruction of Runway 5L/23R at Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
Why the runway work matters
Runway 5L/23R is one of RDU's primary commercial runways. Replacing it is not optional maintenance. A runway that can't handle modern aircraft loads, heavier jets, or increased traffic cycles becomes a hard ceiling on capacity, no matter how many gates the terminal adds.
RDU is already carrying more passengers than its infrastructure was built for. The Terminal 2 expansion, a $775 million project launched in April 2026, adds gates, baggage claim space, and a larger security checkpoint. Expanding the terminal while the runway beneath it ages would simply shift the bottleneck underground.
What comes next
No project start date has been released publicly. Runway reconstruction at major commercial airports typically requires phased closures coordinated with the FAA, airlines, and ground operations teams. Work of this scale can run multiple years from groundbreak to reopening.
With the terminal expansion already underway, RDU now has two of its largest construction contracts running in the same period. Both are bets on growth that shows no sign of slowing.