After a car accident in front of the exit of a parking garage on Sunday evening brought the airport to a standstill and travelers had to wait for hours to leave the airport, airport officials are handing out parking tickets.
This appears to be the first time the airport system has attempted to compensate travelers for parking and traffic delays at Bush Airport – which has continually tested their patience over the past year.
“We had an issue last night when we had an accident in our main arrivals zone Sunday night that occurred at the exit of the garage,” Houston Airport Aviation Director Jim Szczesniak told Houston Public Media on Monday. “So it was the worst place at the worst time.”
In a press release, Szczesniak apologized for the long delays on Sunday after an accident involving a pedestrian occurred at the exit of the garage for terminals C, D and E. One person was taken to hospital following the incident.
“This accident required us to deploy emergency vehicles, fire department, ambulance and police, and it blocked the exit to the garage,” he told Houston Public Media. “This accident took them about an hour to clear.”
“This accident left us with very limited ability to get customers out of the garage,” he said. “This resulted in customers having to wait in the garage for up to two hours.”
Eligible customers who are affected and have not made a reservation can email their parking receipts to [email protected] to receive three days of free parking on their next visit to the airport.
Szczesniak said the public apology was necessary, among other things, because the airport had failed to provide information about the incident to passengers waiting in their cars.
“I think people would have a little understanding if they knew there was an accident at the exit of the parking garage with injuries, but we didn’t communicate that and many customers were stuck in the parking garage without any information,” he said. “So we are trying again to apologize for that and extend our regret by allowing those affected to park for free at the airport for up to three days from last night.”
The Houston Airports System predicted earlier this year that the city’s airports would see a record 19 million passengers this summer. In response to the surge in travel, it has hired more staff to direct traffic on airport roads and in parking garages. The system has hired more police officers and created a dedicated exit lane for Bush Airport’s Terminal Garages C, D and E.
Terminal E has a temporary, single-lane curb for international arrivals, contributing to ongoing traffic congestion, but the airport system says travelers will see an improvement in January when additional curbs open.
Melissa Correa, a spokeswoman for the Houston Airports System, said earlier this year that the large influx of travelers this summer has only led to more traffic and delays for the park-and-ride shuttles.
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“It’s basically like a World Series game, a Super Bowl and a Taylor Swift concert ending at the airport,” she said. “Houston is notorious for its traffic. The airport is no different.”
To effectively optimize the airport’s traffic flow and reduce congestion, a new active loading policy has been introduced to ensure that arriving and departing passengers are ready to depart as soon as they stop at the curb.
“From a construction perspective, we are making progress in this regard and expect to be able to complete the existing single international curb and open the eight-lane international curb by the end of the year. This will already have a huge impact on traffic at the airport,” said Szczesniak.
“We are currently experiencing a decline in travel because, from a tourism perspective, there is essentially no more travel,” he said.
Lucio Vasquez contributed to this report.
