Walk to your rental car at RDU? High cost forces airport to rethink that plan
Raleigh-Durham International Airport would love to make it so people could pick up or drop off a rental car without riding a shuttle bus.
But its initial plan for doing that proved prohibitively expensive, forcing the airport to try again.
RDU has hired a team of consultants to come up with options for putting rental car companies within walking distance of both passenger terminals. The consultants will meet with representatives of the 10 rental car companies doing business at the airport with a goal of identifying six options by next January.
“I don’t know exactly what the six concepts are, but they are all going to be within the terminal area,” said Delia Chi, the airport’s vice president of planning.
Today, the rental car offices and lots are clustered together on the airport campus but not where passengers can get to them on foot.
To eliminate the shuttles, the airport’s master plan crafted in 2016 included a consolidated rental car complex, or CONRAC, just north of the parking decks. Plans called for a multi-story garage where all rental agencies would have their counters and cars ready for travelers, and another garage where companies would clean and refuel returned cars.
To create the pedestrian connection between the CONRAC and the main terminal, RDU planned to demolish two old parking decks along John Brantley Boulevard.
RDU shelved the CONRAC project during the COVID-19 pandemic. When demand for air travel came roaring back, the airport dusted off its plans and found the cost of construction had soared.
Just demolishing the two old parking decks and replacing those parking spaces would cost an estimated $500 million, said airport president and CEO Michael Landguth. That doesn’t include the $1 billion it would cost to build the CONRAC itself.
RDU doesn’t receive government money for its non-aeronautical facilities, so much of those costs would have to be recouped through higher fees on rental cars, Landguth said.
“It becomes a dollar amount that’s really not reasonable for the average customer to rent,” he said. “So the rental car companies recognize that. We recognize that, so we need to go back and figure this out.”
One option would be to put the CONRAC in the two parking decks slated to be demolished, Chi said. That would require shoring up and reconfiguring the aging structures, something the engineering consultants and the rental car companies will have to study.
Other options would be smaller versions of the original CONRAC concept.
Landguth said the car companies are adamant about making the rental process more convenient as they compete against Uber, Lyft and peer-to-peer rental companies such as Turo. But it’s complicated, he said.
“I’m a little skeptical that we’re going to find something in that inner core that the rental car companies are going to be able to afford,” he told RDU’s governing board on Thursday. “As we continue to look at these costs, it’s very difficult to shoehorn this thing in.”
Airport wants to improve what’s already there
In the meantime, the airport wants to help the rental car companies improve their current facilities. RDU will make $10 million available to rental car companies to “refresh” their existing lots and offices.
“Today, we do not have world-class rental car facilities,” said Adam Mitchell, vice president of commercial management. “And we know we’re several years away — at least seven to 10 years away — from being able to develop a true CONRAC facility.”
The money will be allocated according to the market share of each company. Mitchell said eligible projects would include new pavement, signs, floors, canopies and lighting as well as waiting-area expansions.
“Or any other upgrades that can be demonstrated to increase the speed of transactions and how quickly customers can exit from the facilities,” he said.
Applications from the rental agencies are due by the end of September.
RDU is also reviving plans to build a large lot where rental companies can store cars they don’t need in the short-term. The airport’s master plan calls for building a new lot off National Guard Drive, in a wooded area near the Park Economy 3 remote lot and William B. Umstead State Park.
Board members said Thursday they’d like to consider other locations. David Kushner, who represents Wake County, asked if it makes more sense to use Park Economy 4, a remote lot at the north end of the airport that RDU plans to close sometime after Park Economy 3 is expanded.
“If there’s an opportunity not to cut down more trees next to Park Economy 3, and we already have open space in Park Economy 4 that we’re otherwise going to take away from customer parking, maybe there’s a possibility to at least use Park Economy 4 for part of this,” Kushner said.
Bill Sandifer, RDU’s chief development officer, said the 2,500 spaces in Park Economy 4 wouldn’t provide enough storage. Pressed by board members, though, Sandifer agreed to discuss alternatives.
“It’s a much longer conversation,” he said. “But we could certainly look at other options.”
This story was originally published March 21, 2025 at 12:23 PM.
