Unique Aspects of Airport Parking Garage Construction
For many travelers, airport parking garages are the first and last interaction with the airport, making them a critical touchpoint in shaping the travel experience. The customer experience is very important for Airport operations. Parking Garages must be functional, efficient, cost effective, and enhance customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.
Airport parking garages must be designed to provide a seamless, intuitive experience for travelers, ensuring they can move from their vehicles to their gates quickly and efficiently. Airports accommodate a high volume of customers, all with varying needs, requiring parking solutions that prioritize ease of use, security, and accessibility.
Travelers often leave vehicles parked for extended periods, making security a top priority. Parking garages must implement advanced safety measures, such as surveillance systems and CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) principles, including well-lit spaces, open sightlines, and thoughtful layouts to ensure passengers feel secure, even during late or early hours. Incorporating natural light into the design enhances visibility and comfort, creating a welcoming environment.
These structures also frequently serve multiple functions, including serving as storage facilities for rental car fleets. This dual-purpose use demands adaptable layouts and traffic flow systems to accommodate both transient travelers and fleet management needs.
Passengers traveling with luggage require parking garages to connect seamlessly to the terminal. Weather-protected pathways, elevators, and ramps eliminate the need for stairs, ensuring a smooth transition between the garage and the airport. By integrating these considerations, parking garages become an essential component of the airport experience, enhancing customer satisfaction while supporting the airport’s operational goals.
Key Elements of Parking Garage Design for Airports
Parking Garage Layout
An intuitive parking garage layout is essential for providing travelers with a smooth, efficient experience. Thoughtfully designed structures prioritize clear vehicle flow, guiding drivers seamlessly from entry to parking spaces while minimizing congestion. Open-span designs, which eliminate interior columns, further enhance usability by creating unobstructed parking bays and wider driving lanes, making navigation easier for travelers.
Using a sloped-floor design (instead of dedicated ramps) optimizes space and reduces materials, as vehicles transition between levels while parking bays remain side by side. This arrangement is the most space-efficient, ensuring every square foot of the garage is utilized effectively. It also creates a simple and intuitive traffic flow as vehicles will drive by each parking space until they find an open space.
An efficient design will use an overall width in increments of 18m (60 feet). This is the average width of a parking bay. A two-bay garage would be 36m wide, a three-bay garage would be 54m wide. The length of the building can vary more freely.
Open-Air Parking Garage
Open-air parking structures are significantly more cost-effective due to reduced fireproofing, HVAC, and plumbing requirements.
They also offer enhanced safety features, such as natural ventilation and improved visibility. We have written a full article on this topic Open-Air Parking Structures.
CPTED Design for Parking Garages
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) focuses on enhancing safety and deterring criminal behavior through strategic design elements in parking structures. Some key design strategies are:
Open-Span Design
- Improved Visibility: The absence of columns ensures wide-open bays, allowing pedestrians and drivers to see across the entire garage.
- Enhanced Interaction: Pedestrians and drivers can maintain eye contact while navigating, reducing confusion and increasing mutual awareness.
- Surveillance Optimization: Cameras placed at the end of each bay provide full video coverage with minimal blind spots, enhancing overall security.
Natural Lighting
- Increased Awareness: Natural light illuminates the space, making it easier for users to navigate and spot potential hazards.
- Shadow Reduction: Supplementary LED lighting minimizes dark corners and shadows, creating a well-lit and welcoming environment at all hours.
Ventilated Glass Stair Towers
- Transparency and Safety: Glass walls allow users to see outside and others to see in, deterring potential threats and fostering a sense of security.
- Audibility for Assistance: Ventilated glass enables sounds to travel, ensuring that cries for help can be heard by people outside the structure if necessary.
These design elements work together to create a parking structure that prioritizes visibility, transparency, and accessibility, fostering an environment where users feel safe and comfortable.
Implementing these CPTED strategies in parking garages enhances user safety and comfort. For a comprehensive exploration of CPTED principles in parking structures, visit our detailed blog post: CPTED for Parking Structures.
Accessibility Standards
Airport parking garages must meet accessibility standards, such as AODA compliance, to ensure they are inclusive for all users.
Features like designated accessible parking spaces, elevators, ramps, and clear wayfinding signage enable passengers with mobility challenges to navigate the garage easily and safely.
These elements not only comply with legal requirements but also enhance the overall user experience for everyone.
Inventory and Guidance Technology
Inventory and guidance technology enhances the efficiency of airport parking garages by providing real-time information on available spaces.
Systems like parking sensors and digital signage direct drivers to open spots, minimizing search times and reducing congestion. Advanced solutions may include mobile app integration, allowing travelers to reserve spaces in advance and navigate the garage seamlessly.
These technologies improve user experience while supporting high-volume traffic management in airport environments.
Sustainability Features
Modern airport parking garages incorporate sustainability features to reduce environmental impact and operational costs. Motion-activated lighting minimizes energy use by only illuminating areas in active use.
Solar panels can generate renewable energy to power the structure, further enhancing efficiency. Additionally, EV charging stations support the growing demand for electric vehicles, aligning with broader sustainability goals and offering convenience to eco-conscious travelers.
Sustainable construction methods, such as prefabrication and the use of low-carbon materials, reduce CO₂ emissions during construction and throughout the structure’s lifecycle.
Effective rainwater management systems, including permeable pavements and rainwater harvesting, help minimize runoff and support eco-friendly water usage.
These combined features ensure parking garages contribute to a greener, more sustainable airport ecosystem.
Operating Costs of Airport Parking Structures
When planning a parking garage, airports must consider not just construction costs but also long-term operating expenses.
Proper design and material choices can significantly reduce maintenance and operational costs, ensuring the facility remains cost-effective over its lifecycle.
- UHPC Benefits:
Using Ultra-High-Performance Concrete for Parking Structure (UHPC) construction, like the Kiwi CarPark System does, enhances durability and reduces maintenance needs. UHPC eliminates the requirement for epoxy topping layers, a common maintenance concern, leading to substantial cost savings over time. - Energy-Efficient Lighting:
Motion-activated LED lighting minimizes energy consumption by illuminating only active areas, lowering utility costs while maintaining safety and visibility. - Intuitive Layouts:
Efficient, well-planned layouts limit the need for complex and ambiguous signage, reducing the time and cost associated with managing wayfinding systems. - Effective Drainage Systems:
Designs that channel rainwater directly into storm systems reduce the risk of water pooling and damage, minimizing repair and maintenance expenses. - Low-Maintenance Materials:
Selecting materials resistant to weathering, corrosion, and wear—like galvanized steel and precast UHPC concrete—can further reduce long-term upkeep costs. - Sustainability Enhancements:
Features such as solar panels and EV charging stations not only lower the carbon footprint but can also offset energy costs, providing additional operational savings.
By incorporating these strategies during the planning phase, airports can create parking structures that are efficient and economical to maintain over time.
Cost to Build an Airport Parking Structure
There are several factors that influence the cost of a parking garage for an airport. These factors are fully discussed in our article “How much does it cost to build a parking structure.”
One of the most influential factors is the type of construction method used.
There are three main construction methods for parking structures in North America:
- Cast In Place: This method requires significant on-site labor and time, with heavy structural components that demand large, costly foundations.
- Precast Double-Tee: Though faster than cast-in-place, the heavy concrete pieces necessitate substantial foundations and careful logistics for transport and assembly, limiting overall efficiency.
- Prefabricated Panel and Beam: Utilizing lightweight precast UHPC panels and galvanized steel beams, this method reduces foundation requirements, accelerates construction, and enhances flexibility without compromising strength. Our Kiwi CarPark System uses this approach.
The table below shows the cost differences for the different type of construction methods. It shows that using a prefabricated panel and beam system, an airport parking garage can cost roughly $28,000 to $35,000 per parking space.
Prefabrication for Airport Parking Garage Construction
Prefabrication offers a highly efficient solution for airport parking garage construction, delivering significant advantages in speed and reduced site disruption. By manufacturing components off-site, construction timelines are shortened, allowing airports to minimize the impact on existing parking operations—a critical consideration when lots are already near capacity. Prefabricated parking garage systems ensure that parking facilities are operational sooner, restoring capacity with minimal delay.
These systems are also highly engineered for durability and cost efficiency. Modular parking structures last longer and reduce operational costs by up to 90% due to their superior materials and precision manufacturing. Their durability translates to fewer repairs, lower maintenance needs, and enhanced safety, making prefabrication an ideal choice for modern airport parking garages.
Procuring an Airport Parking Structure
Progressive Design-Build (PDB) is an ideal delivery method for airport parking structures, offering flexibility and efficiency through early collaboration and phased project development. This approach allows for systemized building using modular and prefabricated components which streamline construction, reduce disruptions, and ensure durability.
PDB enables close coordination with stakeholders, ensuring the design meets operational needs while optimizing layouts for standardized parking spaces and drive aisles. This integration of prefabrication not only accelerates timelines but also reduces costs and long-term maintenance.
To learn more about the detailed steps of procuring a parking structure using PDB, visit our blog: The Ultimate Guide to Progressive Design-Build.
Temporary Airport Parking Structures
Can airports build temporary parking structures? You may have seen some videos or images of parking decks being erected in a few hours that look like robust scaffolding and can be dismounted and moved from parking lot to parking lot.
While there are some solutions in Europe for this type of solution, finding temporary parking deck options for North America is more difficult. However, there are options for “demountable parking structures.”
The primary distinction between demountable and temporary structures lies in their design and intended lifespan. Demountable structures are built with structural elements designed for disassembly, often using bolted connections to allow for reuse.
These systems can be unbolted and relocated without significant damage to the components, making them ideal for redeployment.
In contrast, temporary structures prioritize rapid installation for short-term use, often sacrificing long-term durability and adaptability for convenience.
While temporary structures are typically intended to last less than a year, demountable structures are designed to remain in place for longer periods, often making them a more cost-effective solution over a 10-year timeframe.
Learn more about the difference between temporary parking structures demountable structures in our blog: Temporary Parking Structures in North America
Future Trends in Airport Parking Structures
Airport parking structures are evolving to incorporate advanced technologies and sustainable solutions that enhance user experience and operational efficiency.
App Integration for Reservations and Payments
Mobile apps are revolutionizing airport parking, allowing travelers to reserve and pay for parking in advance. These systems streamline the user experience while also enabling airports to collect valuable data on parking habits, helping them optimize operations and better serve travelers.
Data-Driven Optimization
Real-time data from parking guidance systems and user apps allows airports to analyze trends, predict demand, and adjust pricing or capacity dynamically, maximizing revenue and efficiency.
EV Parking and Charging Stations
The growing adoption of electric vehicles has made EV charging stations a necessity. Future parking structures will feature expanded EV infrastructure, accommodating more chargers and faster charging capabilities.
Solar Panels on Roofs and Facades
Parking garages are ideal locations for solar panel installations. Solar arrays on roofs and facades can generate renewable energy, potentially powering the entire airport while reducing the facility’s carbon footprint.
Autonomous Vehicle Compatibility
As autonomous vehicles become more common, parking structures will adapt to their specific needs, including designated drop-off/pick-up zones and compact, high-density parking layouts tailored for self-parking vehicles.
Robotic Valet Systems
Robotic valet systems are on the horizon, offering fully automated parking experiences. These systems can efficiently park and retrieve vehicles, saving space and reducing the time travelers spend searching for parking.
These trends reflect the shift toward smarter, more sustainable airport parking solutions, meeting the needs of modern travelers while supporting airports’ operational goals.
Learn more about Parking Structures for Airports
Airport parking structures are essential to the traveler experience, reflecting an airport’s commitment to efficiency, safety, and sustainability.
From intuitive designs and prefabricated construction to technologies like app integration and EV charging, modern garages are evolving to meet today’s demands.
Kiwi Newton has extensive experience in parking structure construction, delivering durable, low-maintenance solutions tailored to client needs. By managing the entire process internally, we consistently deliver projects on time, within budget, and to the highest standards of sustainability.
We are currently working with Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to design and build a 1,500 car parking garage. Learn more about this project here: Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Parking Structure.
Explore our Kiwi CarPark page, or contact us to learn how we can help your airport plan, design and build an efficient and effective parking garage.
