You’ve got a big new option for parking at the Boise Airport. Here’s how to use it
Boise Airport opened the gates to a new parking garage Tuesday afternoon, expanding capacity at the growing facility by over 50%.
The airport held a ribbon-cutting ceremony, with Boise Mayor Lauren McLean doing the honors, before opening the garage to the public.
The five-level parking garage, which cost approximately $30 million to construct over 19 months, is the airport’s third garage and second for long-term parking. It adds 1,148 spaces, including 32 accessible parking spaces.
It’s also the airport’s first garage with rooftop parking, offering views toward the city and Boise Foothills to the north, and the airport terminal and runways to the south.
“We identified parking as a critical need in our infrastructure several years ago, actually leading into the pandemic,” Boise Airport Director Rebecca Hupp said Tuesday. “And then, of course, the pandemic delayed everything, and we have come back faster than we ever could have anticipated, with just record passenger travel, record parking and just tremendous growth.”
The airport set a monthly passenger record in June, the Idaho Statesman previously reported, and is on pace to break its annual passenger record.
What to know about the new garage
The new facility, called the East Garage by the airport, was designed for those needing long-term parking. The Main Garage will also remain for long-term customers, while the West Garage is for both long and short-term.
The new garage can be accessed by driving onto Airport Way — similar to when driving toward the original two garages — but by taking a left near the Chevron garage at the corner of Airport Way and Wright Street.
It will cost $14 a day to park in the garage — the same cost for long-term parking in the other two garages — or $2 per hour.
Access to the terminal is on the garage’s second floor and across a walkway to the drop-off zone for departing flights.
What’s next for Boise Airport?
The additional parking space won’t have an impact on landing any additional flights or destinations in the short term, Hupp told the Idaho Statesman.
“This really is to accommodate existing demand and existing passenger needs,” Hupp said. “Because we already are having a situation where parking is full on a very regular basis, particularly midweek.”
The new garage was one of the airport’s “critical path items,” Hupp said, with several other projects lined up.
A new surface parking lot is planned to open by the end of November, project manager Jill Singer told the Statesman. The airport is also beginning to build a new rental car facility, Singer said, with Hupp confirming that the airport is estimating the project to take about two years.
Hupp also said the airport wants to build a new concourse, which would be an extension of the current terminal and would provide more space for seating, shopping and gates.
“(The concourse) is definitely within the five-year planning horizon,” Hupp said. “I would say that we’re expecting the consolidated rental car facility is a two-year project roughly, and then the new concourse will start immediately following that. And so there’ll be a construction period, but we’re expecting about five years.”
This story was originally published August 22, 2023 at 6:58 PM.
