New parking garage at Will Rogers

Patrick · 03-26-2007, 01:44 PM

Growing pains well-grounded: Record air traffic leads to planned parking garage at Will Rogersby Brian Brus
The Journal Record
3/26/2007

Journal Record Photo OKLAHOMA CITY – The problem with air travel traffic gaining momentum and breaking records each year at Will Rogers World Airport is that so many of those people leave automobiles behind.
“When people come out to the airport, they see those big flashing lights that say ‘Parking Lot Full, Parking Lot Full,’” airport spokeswoman Jennifer James McCollum said.
“We’ve had to park some vehicles on the grass over Spring Break because it’s so busy. … But these are growing pains, positive signs of economic growth. This sort of demand is so much better than if nobody came to the airport and no one had a parking issue.”

The airport will begin constructing a five-story parking garage the week of April 1, McCollum said. City officials approved a bond sale for the $25 million project earlier this year.

The new building will increase parking by about 1,200 spaces, or 40 percent. During the construction, the airport will lose about 500 of its current spaces. In preparation, another outdoor lot has been laid south of current parking, she said.

The project will take about a year and a half to complete, McCollum said.
2005 was a record year for Will Rogers, with 1.79 million passengers getting on planes in Oklahoma City, a 5.3-percent increase over 2004. And a record was set again in 2006 with 1.8 million.
“The eight nonstop services we’ll have coming online in the next several weeks will only bump those numbers up,” she said. Airports Director Mark Kranenburg expects 2007 to set a record as well, McCollum said.
Since terrorist attacks on national landmarks in 2001, the airline industry has been struggling to recover. Oklahoma City leadership on the City Council and airport trust responded quickly as soon as Will Rogers traffic picked up, by approving major renovations and improvements to the airport.

Officials have said those investments – and downtown convention center development – have played a key role in securing several direct flights in recent months. Southwest Airlines was the latest to announce nonstop service from Will Rogers World Airport with a route to Baltimore-Washington International Airport later this year.

United Airlines and its United Express corporate partner Mesa Airlines announced recently they will begin daily service to Washington/Dulles International Airport in June. Airport officials have announced eight new nonstop flights between Oklahoma City and key destinations in less than six months. Direct routes from Will Rogers now include Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and Sacramento, Calif.
McCollum said there’s no way to predict industry fluctuations: “We live in a very unpredictable world and nobody knows what tomorrow may hold. … All we really can do is plan for the growth we have right now,” she said. “There will always be a place to park out here. We’re very fortunate. We have a lot of land. And we’re doing what we have to do this week (during Spring Break),” she said. “It’s not an optimal situation, but it’s what we have to do to grow.”