The Final Environmental Assessment for the proposed Runway 5L/23R Replacement Project will be released by the FAA.

The proposed replacement runway is west of the current long runway and a total length of 10,639 with a rerouting of Lumley Drive.

We are pleased the new runway is farther away from William B. Umstead State Park.

However, there will be thousands of feet of streams and wetlands impacted that will require millions of dollars in mitigation. The draft EA calls for those millions of dollars in mitigation funds to be diverted off site – we believe that is wrong. Crabtree Creek and William B. Umstead State Park are water resources most impacted. Please ask that mitigation for stream and wetland impacts be done on-site and/or adjacent land to William B. Umstead State Park. This is appropriate because the lands managed by the RDUAA either drain directly or indirectly (through Brier and Crabtree Creek) into William B. Umstead State Park.

Please ask that the mitigation funds be used to increase the width of forested protective buffers to protect William B. Umstead State Park’s border and its sensitive drainage ways around the Park’s borders.