Staff at McGhee Tyson Airport screened 6,380 passengers last Friday, setting a facility record for most passengers served. In light of skyrocketing demand, members of the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority Board are rushing to keep up as the busy summer season moves into full swing.
Developments discussed in a Wednesday, May 22 board meeting include building another parking lot, updating lot names and plans to crack down on lingering drivers at the terminal curb.
Initially rated for 2.5 million passengers annually, the airport is expanding to meet months of record-setting demand after rising to 2.8 million passengers in 2023. Although airport officials have plans to increase the number of terminals in coming years, staff have said overcrowding is most visible on the road.
The airport has spent millions increasing its parking capacity over recent years, and plans for a new, 3,500-space parking garage next to the existing garage are underway. That project must slow down during the busy summer months, as the new garage will sit on land occupied by hundreds of valuable short-term parking spots outside the terminal.
Solutions
Until the garage is ready, staff are looking for parking everywhere. Multiple employee lots have already been converted to public parking, and a 1,000-space expansion to Lot C is underway after design hiccups in the Alcoa Planning Commission.
On Wednesday, the board awarded a contract to Messer Construction to create yet another lot — Lot G. The 700-space addition will help the airport get through the garage construction process, Vice President of Planning and Development Bryan White told the board.
The airport also plans to rename parking options. Current, time-based names such as short-term and long-term parking are ambiguous to some visitors, board President Patrick Wilson said, leading to confusion over how long they can stay.
The answer, approved by the board Wednesday, is to rename lots based on location. Short-term and long-term parking will be renamed Terminal Garage and Terminal Surface, while options like Lot C at the edge of walkability will be dubbed Economy Lot C.
The new names won’t affect pricing, Wilson told the board. Final rates for the garage should sit around $20-22 per day.
A new, 100-space phone lot is also open in the short-term parking.
Lingering
The airport is also working to remedy another symptom of overcrowding — long lines at the terminal curb. Since 2001, Director of Public Safety Tom Aiken said, airport policy has been to prohibit unattended vehicles. But recently, drivers coming to pick up passengers have taken to parking along the curb, generating lines that can back thousands of feet onto Alcoa Highway.
“It’s sometimes as far back as the Taco Bell,” said Aiken. “We’re trying to stop it before it gets to Pellissippi Parkway.”
The response, he said, is to change policy to prohibit parking of any kind. The new phone lot should provide space for drivers to wait for their passengers, while new signs at the terminal curb designating “zones” will help passengers quickly transmit their location to motorists.
Violators, he said in response to questions from the board, can be punished with a parking citation or impoundment.
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