Signs of growth coming to RDU

Raleigh-Durham International Airport is growing to keep up with demand, adding new routes and more terminal gates to accommodate more flights and more passengers.

About 1.3 million flyers passed through RDU in August, up more than 11 percent from the same month a year ago, airport spokesman Jake Potter said Friday.

"We’re really thankful for all the people that choose RDU, and the job for us now is to continue to build an airport that meets the aviation demand of the community," Potter said.

"After the busy travel season, you can tend to see a slowdown in terms of passenger volume, but we’re not forecasting so much of that this year. It’s going to keep growing quite a bit," he said. "The community's aviation demand has gone through the roof. We’re having several months running of double-digit growth, and we want to make sure we’re prepared for it in a lot of construction as quick as we can."

One of those changes is more than 600 new directional signs being installed at the airport to guide people to terminals and parking.

"It’s a significant investment," Potter said of the $13.2 million cost for the signage. "When you come in our roadways, right away, you’ll see that all these new signs are trying to get you to where you need to go as quickly as you can."

While the new signs will go up over the next few weeks, other expansion projects likely won't be down until early 2020.