‘Do unto others’: Traffic for passenger pickup continues to challenge KCI’s new terminal
Could following the Golden Rule be part of the solution to the long backups and waits drivers face at peak times when picking up passengers at Kansas City International Airport’s new terminal?
KCI officials think so, and are appealing to those meeting passengers at the airport think of others and only stop at the arrivals curb long enough to load passengers.
“What we are trying do is reason with people and ask them to keep moving and to cooperate,” said Joe McBride, a spokesman for Kansas City International Airport.
“If you’re sitting there for 10 minutes, that means there’s someone that can’t pull up to the curb and pick up their loved one,” he continued. “You wouldn’t want that to be you waiting in line because someone’s sitting at the curb for 10 minutes or so and no one comes out.”
The traffic congestion problem has been an issue since the new terminal opened on Feb. 28. It’s intermittent, occurring primarily when multiple flights land close together and people flock to the airport to greet passengers.
Airport officials maintain it’s a learning curve, not a flaw. They point out the design is common at other airports across the country.
Mayor Quinton Lucas, who checked passenger pick-up on Wednesday night and posted his thoughts to social media about 11:20 p.m., said the late evening challenge relates to drivers all queuing in the right pick-up lane all the way back to the highway.
“At least for early weeks, likely need increased traffic control officers to move those queued in right lane and further education,” he said on Twitter. “Need further education on cell phone lot and likely expansion of that lot or use of one of our ample old terminal lots for waiting cars.”
Among the responses to the social media posts were comments that signs at the new terminal are confusing, and that it’s not clear how many lanes go into the arrivals area and where the cellphone lot is located. Some even commented they don’t know what a cellphone lot is.
‘Active loading and unloading only’
The problem facing the new terminal may be associated with habits picked up over the years at the old terminals, where drivers often parked and waited for travelers at the arrival curb.
Airport officials point out that’s always been against policy.
“For years now it’s been at KCI and other airports that the curb is for active loading and unloading only and certainly no unattended vehicles,” McBride said.
While that is true, that was not always enforced at the old terminals. People have said they were allowed to get away with parking at the arrival curb as they waited for passengers to exit the terminals — a practice airport officials call “standing” in their vehicle.
“As far as those who say they were able to sit for any length of time at the terminal, if they were allowed that, it would have been during non-peak times,” McBride countered. “At the old terminals, I often saw strict enforcement at the curb during peak hours and peak traffic.”
On Tuesday, Kansas City Aviation Department deputy director of aviation Justin Meyer posted a photo on social media of a sign saying, “No curbside parking at terminal Tow-away zone.”
“This sign . . . is not new,” he said.
That prompted several replies, including one person who said, “Apparently a complete lack of enforcement is also . . . not new.”
Another person replied, “So enforce it. I’ve literally never seen a tow truck anywhere near KCI.”
Yet another added: “I think the habit was created with the old terminal and people being allowed to park on the curb. Over time if this is enforced consistently it will improve!”
Also, because passengers were arriving at different terminals previously, that spread out the traffic between multiple terminals.
With the new terminal, all that traffic has been concentrated to the single, smaller space. The new terminal has less space for arrivals than the old terminals, putting more pressure on the curb when there are vehicles just standing there, McBride said.
Educating on new terminal use
Airport officials are trying to educate Kansas Citians how to best use the terminal, which includes new signs asking drivers to use the two lanes closest to the terminal going into the the arrivals level to pick up passengers.
“We’re finding that having two lanes coming in helps account for vehicles that are sometimes parked at the curb with drivers in them,” McBride said.
One person replied to Mayor Lucas on social media that the signs are not clear, adding to the confusion.
“This makes it look like there is only one lane,” said Kyle Rohde on Twitter.
There are airport police officers and traffic control officers working the curb to keep traffic moving. They’ve been asking drivers who are sitting in their cars to circle around, McBride said.
In reaction to the traffic mess, airport officials are also encouraging people to use the cellphone lot at 680 Brasilia Ave., near the Marriott hotel at the airport, to wait for passengers to exit the terminal.
Temporary electronic signs were added this week to help people find the lot. An overhead electronic sign as you drive into the terminal now informs people of the cellphone lot, all in reaction to the long lines leading to short tempers among drivers picking up passengers.
But the cellphone lot, meant to give people a place to wait until the person they’re picking up is at the curb, remains slightly off the beaten path at the airport.
The cellphone lot was moved its current location in February 2020. It does have some amenities, like a building with restrooms. The parking lot includes five bus parking stalls, 30 limo/van stalls, more than 50 taxi stalls and more than 90 cellphone and ride-sharing stalls, according to the airport’s website.
Maximum wait time is 45 minutes, and vehicles left unattended are subject to being towed.
“I think we’re doing our best to direct people to the cellphone lot and also have traffic entering the terminal complex be in two lanes so they enter the arrivals area so that they can keep moving,” McBride said.
Despite their efforts, people are still standing in their vehicles. McBride said he observed a couple of unoccupied vehicles and saw one ticketed after being there for some time. If that vehicle were to stay much longer, it would be towed, he said.
If people standing in their vehicles or leaving them unoccupied becomes a big problem, then law enforcement would become more stringent, McBride said. For now, however, he said they are trying to reason with people and ask them to keep moving.
“We’re trying to work with the public, but you can just sit there so long before you start impacting someone else who’s trying to actively load or unload passengers,” he said. “Considering other people is important. If your party is not there, then circle around.”
This story was originally published March 9, 2023 at 2:47 PM.
