Montgomery development news

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Why can't they start this now instead of 2010?

Airport to add parking facility

By Cosby Woodruff
[email protected]



The Montgomery Regional Airport plans to open a new intermodal facility, which would provide taxis and other cars a place to park while waiting to pick up passengers, around the middle of 2010.

The facility would work best if it was built in the northwest corner of the long-term parking lot, according to the airport's parking lot committee.

Currently, taxis line up along the curb in front of the airport, and private cars often circle the airport waiting for passengers. That creates security concerns and hazards for pedestrians, according to Barge, Waggoner, Sumner & Cannon Inc., the airport's consulting firm.

Moving those cars to a waiting area away from the terminal, where they would be summoned by cell phones or some other system, would greatly reduce congestion immediately in front of the terminal, said David Riesland, a project manager for the consultants.

The committee voted to recommend the location in the long-term parking because it does not restrict future airport growth, and it offers a lower construction cost because the land is already suitable for construction.

Sites closer to the terminal would have required more ground work.

Riesland also said the site would be appropriate for a parking deck, which may be built in the future.

"There is a lot of potential for expansion in this site," he said.

Luke Childrey questioned what the loss of about 40 parking spaces would mean to airport revenue. Mark Wnuk, assistant to the executive director at the airport, said the parking lot averages about 40 percent capacity, but on heavy travel periods it overflows.

Allen Thames, vice president of the consulting firm, said giving up that revenue would be a tradeoff for relieving congestion in front of the building.

"All of the solutions present some other problem," he said.

The proposal calls for a small building surrounded by five parking spots for taxis, five for private vehicles waiting for passengers, one for a limo and one for a tour bus.

"We can put in a facility and a program that will serve everybody," Thames said.

Thames said the airport has a $4 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration to create a transportation nexus, which he defined as an intersection of two transportation modes.

The airport will have to match the grant with $1 million of local money, and Thames said that money is available in reserves.