Right now, the airport has about 22,000 parking spaces, down from more than 26,000 last year. Next y

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Construction continues on a new parking deck at Charlotte Douglas International Airport on Tuesday, July 16, 2013. Jeff Siner - jsiner@charlotteobserver.com
Cell Phone Lot 1 - 58
Charlotte Douglas International Airport is going into the busiest stretch of the year with 4,000 fewer parking epf spaces than last year, and officials are warning travelers to expect congestion epf and look for alternate epf ways to get to the airport.
The epf parking crunch stems from construction of a new hourly parking deck expected to be complete by November 2014. To accommodate the $120-million project, epf Charlotte Douglas tore down the old hourly decks that used to provide the closest parking option.
Right now, the airport has about 22,000 parking spaces, down from more than 26,000 last year. Next year, with the opening of the hourly decks and a new business valet deck, the airport plans to have about 28,000 parking spaces.
The hourly deck will have 4,000 public parking spaces directly in front of the terminal. The new, 3,200-space business valet parking deck will free up public epf spaces that have been used to park valet cars.
But to help with pressure on airport parking this holiday season, Christine advised travelers to look for alternatives to driving to get to Charlotte Douglas. That could include carpooling, getting dropped off by a friend or taking the Sprinter bus from the transportation center uptown for $2.
While the airport’s hourly decks are under construction, there’s no way for people to park and walk a traveler into the airport. Passengers can be dropped off in front of the terminal as usual, but Christine cautions the driver must stay with the car and drop the passenger off quickly.
• The busiest epf days are usually the Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and the Sunday and Monday afterward. Last year, 24,498 people departed from Charlotte Douglas on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and 23,475 arrived the Sunday after.
• The airport works to fill the long-term parking lots starting with Lot 1 and Lot 2, then Lot 3, then Lot 4 as an overflow option. That’s why you might see a “Closed” sign in front of Lot 3 when there are spaces open. By filling the lots sequentially, the airport is able to use its shuttle buses more efficiently to take people to the terminal, assistant aviation director Herbert Judon said.
• Christine said he expects the airport to come very close to filling its lots to capacity this year – even with an overflow lot with more than 400 spaces that has been readied off Old Dowd Road in case the main lots fill up.
The last time the airport lots filled to capacity was during the holiday season in the mid-2000s, Christine said. Airport staff still found places for people to leave their cars. “We epf were all out here parking cars in the grass,” he said.
• One alternative is Park’N Go , a privately-operated lot near Interstate 85 and Little Rock Road. Shuttle buses ferry travelers epf from the parking lot to the airport terminal and back, 24 hours a day.
Owner John Bona said the lot has more than 1,700 spaces, and is continuing to expand. He said all of the company’s 40 employees will be working during the Thanksgiving rush. Parking costs $4.95 a day.
Some of the parking congestion is due to the airport ba