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By JEAN HELLER, Times Staff WriterJust in time for holidays, airport officials limit stops at curbs. Instead, you're encouraged to use lots.
TAMPA - It's crackdown time at Tampa International Airport.
Desperate to rid the airport of choking curbside congestion, particularly outside the two baggage claim areas, airport officials are making some changes today to deal with the problem just in time for the busy Thanksgiving holiday.
Parking at the curbs will be limited to five minutes or less during peak periods - 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. to midnight.
After five minutes, drivers will be told to leave. The times when strict enforcement will be enforced are subject to change.
"Obviously, as airlines add more flights, as the holidays get closer and as we get into spring break, our busiest time, the peak hours will be expanded," said airport director Louis Miller. "We will have dynamic message signs out along the entry road to tell people what the curb congestion situation is. All this is happening because our passenger numbers are growing at twice the national average."
But instead of being shooed off to circle the airport, motorists are being offered some options.
Starting today, motorists can wait for incoming passengers for free in a new cell phone lot near the post office. Incoming passengers can simply use their cell phones when they are ready to go. One catch: motorists must have their own phones.
Eventually, the lot will have an electronic board showing the status of flights. Until then, a phone number will be posted so motorists can check flights.
Motorists who want to wait at baggage claim will have a new option starting today: free parking for the first hour at the short-term and long-term lots.
"You ought to be able to pick up people and drop them off and get back to your car in an hour," Miller said at a recent board meeting.
Last week, airport officials offered another parking option: a new remote parking garage near the post office for $7 a day.
Chaotic scene common
Late last week, Lori Graham of Tampa was concentrating so hard on looking for her mother at the red arrivals curb that she had to brake hard to keep from rear-ending an SUV that had stopped in front of her.
Both vehicles were in the extreme left lane, which is supposed to be kept open as a through lane. The SUV had stopped, and so had three vehicles in front of it, to look for incoming passengers.
"This is just nuts," Graham said. "It's inconvenient, and it's dangerous."
A man sprinted with two bags across two lanes of traffic to get to the through lane. Once there, he tossed his bags in the back seat and leaped into the front seat of a sedan stopped to pick him up.
Meanwhile, at the curb, two people sat in their cars, apparently waiting for passengers. One bobbed her head to music. The other dozed.
Friendly but firm
Airport officials hope enforcing the curbside parking policy will be less adversarial than a decade ago, when snarls and threats often accompanied orders to leave. While the new requests will be friendlier, they are not suggestions. Motorists who don't comply could be in trouble with the airport police.
Nine additional traffic enforcement officers have been hired to handle the new policy. Traffic enforcement is a division of the airport police.
If a motorist balks, a supervisor will be called. If no extenuating circumstances are evident, and the driver continues to refuse to move, an airport officer will be called.
"The action after that will depend on the officer's discretion," said airport spokeswoman Brenda Geoghagan. "I guess at the extreme, the individual could be arrested."
Miller said he expects people to accept the limitations gracefully.
"I've been out in the community talking about it," he said, "and people seem agreeable because we are giving them choices."