Airports
The Houston airports system earlier this year projected a record 19 million passengers to visit the city’s airports this summer. In response to a travel influx, more employees have been hired to direct traffic along airport roads and throughout parking garages. The system has added more law enforcement officers and added a dedicated exit lane for the Bush airport C, D and E terminal garage.
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Airport officials are doling out parking vouchers after a Sunday evening car accident outside of a parking garage exit left the airport gridlocked and travelers waiting hours to leave.
It appears to be the first time the airport system has attempted to compensate travelers for parking and traffic delays at the Bush airport— which has continuously tested their patience in the past year.
“We had an issue last night where in our peak Sunday evening arrival bank we had an accident that happened at the exit to the garage,” Jim Szczesniak, Houston Airports Director of Aviation told Houston Public Media Monday. “So it was in the worst location at the worst time.”
Szczesniak in a press release apologized for extended delays on Sunday after a crash involving a pedestrian at the exit of the garage for C, D and E terminals. One person was transported to the hospital following the incident.
"With that accident, we had to have emergency vehicles respond, the fire department, an ambulance, the police, and that clogged the exit to the garage," he told Houston Public Media. "With that accident, it took them approximately an hour to clear."
"With that accident, it severely limited our ability to get people to exit the garage," he said. "So that caused customers to wait in the garage for up to two hours."
Eligible customers who were impacted and did not make a reservation can email their parking receipts to sgi.service@spplus.com to receive three days of free parking on their next visit to the airport.
Szczesniak said the public apology is necessary in part because the airport failed to provide any information about the incident to those left waiting in their cars.
"I think people would be a little understanding if they understood that there was an accident at the exit of the garage with injuries but we didn't communicate that and we had a lot of customers that were in the garage stuck without any information," he said. "So again, what we're trying to do is apologize for that and then extend our sorry by allowing people who were impacted by that last night to get up to three days of free parking at the airport."
The Houston Airports System earlier this year projected a record 19 million passengers to visit the city's airports this summer. In response to a travel influx, more employees have been hired to direct traffic along airport roads and throughout parking garages. The system has added more law enforcement officers and added a dedicated exit lane for the Bush Airport C, D and E terminal garage.
Terminal E has a temporary, single-lane international arrivals curb that contributes to ongoing traffic congestion, but travelers will notice an improvement in January when additional curbs open up, according to the airport system.
Melissa Correa, a spokesperson for the Houston Airports System, earlier this year said a major influx of travelers this summer has only increased traffic and park-and-ride shuttle delays.
RELATED: Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport sees influx in travelers, nearly 2 million passengers projected over next week
"It is essentially like a World Series game, a Super Bowl and a Taylor Swift concert letting out at the airport," she said. "Houston is notorious for traffic. The airport is not different."
A new active loading policy was implemented to effectively streamline the airport's traffic flow and reduce congestion by ensuring arriving and departing passengers are ready to go as soon as they pull up to the curb.
"From a construction standpoint, we are making progress on that, and by the end of the year we anticipate that we'll have the existing international single curb done and complete where we can open up the eight-lane international curb, and that's going to have a tremendous impact on traffic at the airport right now," Szczesniak said.
"We are at this point seeing travel volume decline because of the fact that travel is essentially over from the travel perspective," he said.
Lucio Vasquez contributed to this report.
