Parking poised to loosen up at Logan
More spaces open as project winds down
By Peter J. Howe, Boston Globe, 09/30/2006
With three years worth of parking garage construction finally wrapping up at Logan International Airport, officials this week brought 960 parking spaces back into service and expect construction could be all done by January.
Within the next three weeks, officials also expect to begin offering reserved parking spaces in the central garage. Currently, reserved parking is available only in the Terminal B garage between American Airlines and US Airways.
Logan now has about 12,500 spaces available, with another 450 now roped off for construction set to come back Oct. 12, said Jack Hemphill, Massachusetts Port Authority business manager. Another 1,500 spaces are projected to come into service by the end of January.
Since 2003, Massport construction crews have been working on a $217 million project to add 2,880 parking spaces at the airport -- an increase of 25 percent -- and renovate crumbling decks in the old garage. Construction of three new decks on the old central garage has been completed.
But because areas have been closed off for maintenance and to accommodate construction crews, Logan has at times lost as many as 1,800 spaces, forcing passengers into remote economy lots or facilities in Chelsea, East Boston, and Revere.
Several Logan passengers said they've seen a marked improvement in parking availability. Marlin W. Collingwood , managing director of marketing communications firm Bell Pottinger USA , who frequently flies to Pittsburgh and Seattle, said he has "seen a difference in the parking situation in the past three weeks or so. I've been able to get relatively easy parking in the B garage. Earlier in the summer, I had the hassle of having to use overflow parking and deal with the shuttle buses."
Massport last month began offering a new PassPort Gold reserved parking plan that guarantees people parking spaces, for a $5 a day premium and $200 registration fee.
With parking in the central garage now about to become far more abundant, Hemphill said Massport will move ahead with offering reserved parking there in mid-October. Just under 400 people have signed up for the Terminal B reserved parking, Hemphill said, and Massport expects about 1,600 more once the central garage reserved parking is available.
But some Logan patrons said the airport's success in getting spaces reopened may dampen demand for reserved parking. "I didn't think it was worth the added expense before, and I think it's even less of a value now that more central spaces are coming online," said Neil Bergquist, a pharmaceutical industry consultant.
Some find the sign-up fee prohibitive. Michael A. Sandman, a business consultant with Fuld & Co. Inc. in Cambridge, said: "Two hundred bucks a year for a guaranteed space is nuts. For that much money, Massport should pick me up in my car at my office and hand me the keys when I fly back."