Eppley Airfield is feeling the pinch from some growing pains as parking improvements continue taking shape. The garage at Eppley has reached capacity three times in the past two weeks.
Airport Authority Chief of Police Tim Conahan tells 6 News, "We've seen, since the early August of 18', we've reached the capacity in the garage a total of five times. It's usually on the Tuesday/Wednesday of the week, middle of the week." This Wednesday was one those Wednesdays.
Conahan counsels patience for those parking at the airport. "It's usually only for about three or four hours before the garage will open up again but the new garage is really going to be a benefit for our customers. We will have enclosed parking and it will definitely be something that's going to take us into the next 20 years for parking at the airport."
Construction of the new garage started in the summer of 2017 and will wrap up next spring or summer. The garage is more than half finished and is on schedule.
Conahan said the project will eventually provide some much needed space. “That will give us almost 6,000 stalls of enclosed parking, you know, our long-term lots. Total parking for the airport right now is right around 9,000 stalls. That's our current garage and our long-term lots. This will give us another basically 2,100 stalls for customer parking - 900 of the stalls are taken up by our rental car agencies."
Eppley does have a free app called flyOMA that updates how many stalls are available and where you can find them.
(Photo courtesy of 6 News)