Finding a garage parking spot at Broward County's Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) is about to get much easier. On May 15, FLL will add 3,100 parking spaces for public parking on the top three floors of the Cypress Garage, adjacent to Terminal 1. The additional parking is needed to address current congestion as well as to support Terminal 1's new Concourse A, which is scheduled to open in June of this year. There will be five new international gates, which will require additional customer parking. Additionally, there are plans to relocate some airlines that could put more demand on the Cypress Garage.
Parking will open to the public on the seventh, eighth and ninth floors of the Cypress Garage. This convenient parking will help address the need of the airport's customers by providing space formerly occupied by airport employees. Features such as a parking guidance system will be installed in the future. Daily garage parking is $15. If you pay by the hour, the cost is $3 with the first 20 minutes free.
Airport employees, who have been parking in the Cypress Garage since 2007, will park in what is currently the Airport Economy Lot, which is closing to the public. The Airport Economy Lot is located on SW 42nd Street just west of the Airport off Ravenswood Road. It will close to the public on April 19, and be converted for use by Airport employees. Unfortunately, there is insufficient space in our garages to now accommodate both our employees and our customers.
While we regret having to suspend the Economy Lot parking product at $7.50, these changes are necessary to address the continued growth of passengers and employees at FLL. In 2007, the "Great Recession" impacted the U.S. economy and travel habits of the public. FLL served more than 22 million passengers. In 2016, we served more than 29 million travelers, a 28 percent increase in traffic. This passenger growth is expected to continue for several years into the future. We now have nearly 15,000 Airport workers, with two-thirds of them living in Broward County.
Our long-term objective is to return the Economy Lot Parking product in the future. FLL's current Master Plan process will address the long-term parking needs of the Airport.
