The parking lots at Raleigh-Durham International Airport were all full on Wednesday, forcing the airport to reopen a park-and-ride lot it hasn’t used since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
RDU reopened the Economy 4 parking lot on International Drive, on the north side of the airport campus. Shuttle buses run between the lot and the terminals about every 10 minutes.
The airport’s website showed its parking decks and its Economy 3 park-and-ride lot were at 100% capacity Wednesday afternoon. The newly opened Economy 4 was at only 6% as of 3:30 p.m.
RDU charges $11 a day to park in Economy 4, or $1 per hour for the first four hours. That’s the same as with Economy 3 on the south side of the airport and cheaper than parking in the deck, which ranges from $17 to $26 a day.
RDU closed both park-and-ride lots and the Express lot in March 2020 when COVID-19 severely reduced demand for air travel. Central and Premier parking in the decks between the terminals remained open. Express will remain closed for the time being.
RDU recommends people book their parking online 24 hours or more in advance at rdu.com; the online reservation doesn’t reserve a specific parking space but it does guarantee entry to a parking lot or deck. Customers won’t be able to book online for Economy 4 until Tuesday, Sept. 27.
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