ROANOKE, Va. – Some major changes are coming to the Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport, starting with its parking lot.
The airport is completing its last construction phase for its parking lot, which started 15 months ago.
Crews started Monday in the Standard Parking lot, and airport officials said they want to make about 400 spaces bigger to accommodate SUVs and other bigger cars. The project is estimated to be completed in May.
“The parking lot was built pre-SUVs and pickup trucks. So, it was very tight as far as the drive aisles go, with short parking spaces and a lot of pavement and ground that was starting to fail,” said Executive Director Mike Stewart.
Prices are also lower if you are parking at the airport:
- The preferred lot is down to $14/day
- The standard lot is $12/day
- Economy is $8/day
- The cell phone lot is also closed, but you can still park free for 30 minutes
The parking lot project is part of a 20-year plan to make changes to the airport, which will include making improvements to its security checkpoints, according to Stewart.
“We’ve got X-ray units to set out in the lobby here. That is not the greatest experience we’d like to have. So, we want to give the airlines room to do their work and let the TSA go behind the scenes and do their work in the back,” said Stewart.
Stewart also said they want to move the checkpoint back to the terminal from what used to be Gate 1.
“Give the TSA more space to be able to put an additional lane of equipment in. Right now, we have a limitation of about 175 people an hour when the TSA has full staff and full equipment. We have times of the day now when we have bigger airplanes and don’t have the ability to get that many people through the checkpoint. So, that’s when it runs into problems when as we all like to do is come a little bit later than they do to some of the bigger airports. Getting people through is what we are all about,” said Stewart.
Stewart said he wants to give people a better experience of getting people through.
Stewart also said they’ve had conversations about having other flights out of Roanoke, such as to Dallas, Denver and Boston.
However, right now there is only one confirmed flight to Sarasota, starting Feb. 14. Stewart said you do have to book directly through Allegiant.
Other travelers also said they’d like to see other flights too.
“The only thing that I can say is maybe like direct flights, I don’t know if that’s possible though. Like it would be really cool to have a direct flight to LA,” said David Spadaccia.
“It would be nice to see a direct flight from Melbourne to Roanoke, but I don’t think that is gonna happen,” said Robert Goodwin.