Travelers headed to the San Diego International Airport for the busy Labor Day weekend had the option of using the newly unveiled parking plaza at Terminal 1.
The parking structure officially opened Wednesday, completing the first phase of the airport’s major, yearslong overhaul.
The project broke ground at the end of 2021. Prior to that, the area was a surface lot with about 1,100 spaces and a skybridge to get to Terminal 1. The new five-story structure has 2,834 spaces, including designated spots for carpool and electric vehicles.
Travelers at the airport Friday said they were excited to park in the new garage, where airport staff was on hand to guide them to the terminal.
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“This is really nice,” Leslie Grigsby said. She and her husband Craig were headed to Nashville for the long weekend.
“We're just in such a great mood,” she continued. “As we're driving, I'm driving like, ‘Oh, this is like Autopia at Disneyland.’”
She and other travelers like Jenna Woodard, headed to Las Vegas, recalled previously having to park at Terminal 2 and making a much longer walk.
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“It feels great,” Woodard said after parking in the new structure. “I just walk right over instead of having to walk, go up and down and over and around. Such a nightmare. It takes so long. I've been running with my bags like, ‘Oh my gosh, I'm gonna to miss my flight.’ And now we’re good. Everything's great.”
The new parking plaza is the first completed phase of the Terminal 1 project. Next summer, a second parking structure will open next to it with an additional 2,400 spaces. Then, the new Terminal 1 is slated to open shortly thereafter.
Once Terminal 1 is open, the old Terminal 1 will be torn down and a new portion of Terminal 1 will be built in its place, with 11 gates that will open in 2028.
The entire project will cost roughly $3.8 billion, airport officials say, paid for through federal grants designated for airport infrastructure as well as from funding provided by multiple airlines as part of a newly negotiated 10-year lease. The new parking structure cost $325 million.
The new garage costs $38 a day to park, or $2.50 every 15 minutes. There is a grace period, with no cost for anyone coming in for under 10 minutes.
Airport officials said they expect as many as 450,000 people to arrive and depart over the course of Labor Day weekend, up about 3% to 4% over the same time period last year.
