Supervisors OK More Airport Parking

The Orange County Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved a $27.6-million construction project for John Wayne Airport to add two levels of parking above the existing lots in front of the Thomas F. Riley Terminal.

The board also authorized airport officials to begin soliciting bids for the construction, which is scheduled to start in October and last almost two years. The plan calls for 1,962 new public parking spaces to be added to the 7,467 spaces already available at the airport’s five lots.

Parking is expected to be at a premium during construction, which will be done in two 10-month phases.

The first phase will displace all spaces on the north side of the east parking structure, including hourly, long-term and employee parking. Plans call for the north side construction to be completed by August 1998.

Construction on the south side of the parking structure will begin the same month and is supposed to be completed by May 1999.

Airport officials recommended that patrons park at the Main Street parking lot, about a half-mile from the main terminal, during the construction. Shuttle service from the lot to the airport will be provided every 10 minutes, officials said.

In addition, authorities will also offer “valet-style express parking” at the Main Street lot. The cost of the service has not yet been determined, but patrons taking advantage of it will be shuttled to the terminal every five minutes.

Another big change will be the elimination of the ground-level “meet and greet” lot across the terminal, said airport spokeswoman Kathleen Campini Chambers. It will be replaced with a central transportation center, which will be used as a staging area for shuttles, cabs and buses, she said.

“This center is designed to reduce vehicle congestion on the roadway and at the same time provide more curb space for dropping off and picking up passengers,” Campini Chambers said.

She said that airport officials have seen the need for additional parking grow over the years. Since 1990, the number of passengers who pass through John Wayne Airport has risen from 4.5 million to more than 7 million.

Authorities said a contract for the project is expected to be awarded by August, and it will be funded entirely from the Airport Operating Fund, without any taxpayer dollars.