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Officials Look For Solutions To Airport Parking Jams

Piktin County

 

Officials are looking for solutions to packed parking lots at the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport.

Airport director John Kinney said there’s a shortage of about 120 spots at the Aspen airport, even after officials relocated rental cars and paved a dirt lot late last year. Officials say people who are not traveling are also using the airport’s long-term parking lot. 

Plus, the airport had to remove short-term parking right in front of the terminal, since the Transportation Security Administration mandated that area be used only for quick drop-offs and pick-ups. 

Officials are now considering raising rates at the long-term lot and looking at using available space at the airport for new parking areas. There are also plans to build a “cell phone lot," where people can wait to pick up travelers. 

Pitkin County Commissioners will discuss the issue at their meeting next week.

 

Aspen native Elizabeth Stewart-Severy is excited to be making a return to both the Red Brick, where she attended kindergarten, and the field of journalism. She has spent her entire life playing in the mountains and rivers around Aspen, and is thrilled to be reporting about all things environmental in this special place. She attended the University of Colorado with a Boettcher Scholarship, and graduated as the top student from the School of Journalism in 2006. Her lifelong love of hockey lead to a stint working for the Colorado Avalanche, and she still plays in local leagues and coaches the Aspen Junior Hockey U-19 girls.