Construction to Begin June 3
April 24, 2013
A ceremonial groundbreaking today at Wichita’s Mid-Continent Airport marks the beginning of a new parking garage and rental car facility at the state’s largest airport, a $40 million project that coincides with a new terminal currently under construction. The garage and terminal are scheduled to open in spring 2015.
“With this new state-of-the-art facility, we will be adding parking spaces and are projected to meet the needs of travelers for the next 20 years,” Mayor Carl Brewer said. “It brings a new parking garage to our airport, and increases our capacity nearly 40 percent.”
The new design increases the number of parking spaces by more than 1,200. Other features include a:
- Four-level, 1,600 space parking garage designed for potential expansion
- Covered rental car pick-up and drop-off on the first level
- Rental car agency customer service center adjacent to the garage
- New surface parking lot, including Close-in, Economy and Park & Ride
Construction is set to begin the week of June 3.
“We are pleased to be able to offer a new level of convenience, efficiency, safety and security, as well as protection from the weather, with this new facility,” said Thom Rosenberg, Chair of the Wichita Airport Authority’s Advisory Board.
The garage will be connected to the new terminal by a crosswalk canopy.
“When this project is complete, we will be able to offer an entirely new parking experience with more options and services, and better meet the needs of the traveling public,” said Victor White, Director of Airports.
White added that, during construction, visitors need to plan ahead to make parking easier. There will be a reduced amount of short-term parking available, and there will be a two-hour limit on parking in that lot with no overnight parking allowed. He said customers should use the Park & Ride shuttle lot whenever possible, as well as the courtesy one-hour parking spaces in the cell phone lot when picking up arriving passengers.
“There may be short-term inconveniences for long-term gains,” White said. “Our ultimate goal is to have our customers’ experiences be as positive as possible, but during construction, everyone will need to arrive a little earlier than normal and find the parking option that works best for them.”
Travelers should check the Airport’s website, www.flywichita.com, for project updates and to watch its construction progress, as well as follow updates on the airport’s Facebook page (FB.com/flywichita) or on Twitter (@flyICT).
Design of the new garage is being led by Dallas-based Carl Walker Inc., with local architects Schaefer, Johnson, Cox and Frey. Ruggles and Bohm, Midwest Engineering and InSite Group are local engineers on the project. Crossland Construction Co. of Columbus, KS, will build the new facilities.
The parking and rental car facilities are being financed with airport parking revenues and rental car fees.
