Airport launches five-year parking update

Travelers and visitors to The Eastern Iowa Airport will see a lot of construction over the next five years, including repairs and upgrades to the facility's parking lots.

The Cedar Rapids Airport Commission recently approved awarding an $890,000 contract to Eastern Iowa Excavating and Concrete of Cascade for the reconstruction of parking lot A. Another $750,000 expenditure is planned for sealing joints and patching parking lots F, G, H and I as well as pavement leading to the parking payment building.

In the fall of 2011, Foth Infrastructure & Environment of Cedar Rapids was hired to study the condition of the parking lots and related pavement at the airport. The findings formed the basis for a five-year, $10.7 million plan to repair and preserve the infrastructure.

'We have a significant amount of concrete in the public parking lot that is 30 years old,” said Airport Director Tim Bradshaw. 'With the amount of traffic and the extreme weather we see in Iowa, it is just beyond its useful life.”

The project will involve pouring new concrete in those sections that need reconstruction, rehabilitating areas that have more useful life, and preventive maintenance on newer areas of the parking lot. It also will include design and construction of a new $10.2 million internal 'ring road.”

The roadway will allow anyone dropping off travelers at the terminal to return to the short-term or long-term parking lots without having to leave the airport on 18th Street SW, cross Wright Brothers Boulevard SW and re-enter the airport.

To cover the costs of the parking lot repairs and upgrades, the airport raised its parking rates on May 1, 2012. The increase, the first since 2001, raised long-term parking rates from $5 per day to $6 per day and short-term parking from $7 per day to $9 per day.

Although the airport is owned by the city of Cedar Rapids, it does not receive any property tax revenue. The regional facility derives its funding from airline revenues, terminal concessions, ground and facility leases, landing fees, ramp fees, parking revenue and farmland rental.