The RDU board has delayed a vote on more than $400 million in contracts tied to the airport's new runway amid pushback over equity concerns.
The contracts cover construction work connected to the runway project, one of the largest infrastructure undertakings in RDU's recent history. No replacement vote date is confirmed in available reporting. The delay follows earlier pushback over Trump-era policy changes that complicated the $400 million runway plans.
A separate but related question looms alongside the runway work: what to do about Lumley Road. That road sits in the path of airport expansion, and a decision on relocating it carries a price tag around $50 million on its own.
RDU is already deep into a broader construction cycle. The airport broke ground on a $775 million Terminal 2 expansion in early April, adding gates, expanded baggage claim, and a larger security checkpoint as passenger counts keep climbing. Stacking a runway project of this scale on top of that work puts the airport's construction commitments well past the billion-dollar mark.
Equity concerns in airport contracting are not new nationally, but the specifics driving the RDU board's hesitation are not fully detailed in available reporting. The next board meeting will show whether the delay reshapes how contracts are structured and whether the Lumley Road decision gets bundled into a single vote.