Thousands will fly into KC for NFL Draft. Will traffic problems mar KCI’s moment?
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NFL Draft in Kansas City
Hundreds of thousands of football fans are expected in Kansas City from April 27-29 to see the Chiefs and other teams make their picks. The NFL Draft Experience sideline events near Union Station include concerts, games, meet-and-greets and more.
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When Kyle Rohde picked up a friend at Kansas City International Airport late one night this past week, he did what airport officials have asked everyone to do.
The Northland resident parked in the “pretty full” cellphone lot and headed to the terminal only after his friend had landed and was ready to be picked up at the curb.
Still, Rohde found himself waiting and waiting, stuck in traffic backed up at the arrivals area of the terminal. Once again, too many cars were stopped, waiting at the curb for travelers to come out. It’s a problem that popped up the first day the new terminal opened nearly two months ago and has frustrated Kansas Citians ever since.
Now with the NFL Draft scheduled to bring crowds to Kansas City next week, some have wondered if KCI airport is actually ready for a big event. As many as 300,000 people are expected to attend the three-day event.
Former Chiefs offensive lineman Mitchell Schwartz this week tweeted that he was worried after picking someone up from the new terminal on Thursday morning.
“At least a half mile line waiting in standstill traffic to enter the airport and pick people up right now. What a disaster,” Schwartz wrote on Twitter.
“Terrible design, and no one is forcing drivers to make loops and/or go to the cell lot. Draft is going to be a NIGHTMARE there. Will be an absolute zoo.”
Kansas City aviation officials say they are doing their best to be ready for the influx of travelers coming for the draft.
Officials have tried educating people that they cannot park and wait for people at the arrivals curb, a habit locals developed during the decades when the airport’s three terminals provided plenty of curb space.
Now, with a single terminal and much smaller arrivals area, they are only supposed to stop long enough to load passengers.
People have been urged to use the cellphone lot at 680 Brasilia Ave., near the Marriott hotel at the airport, to wait for passengers to exit the terminal.
But vehicles keep clogging the passenger arrivals area, leading to frustrated airport users.
“It feels pretty messy still,” Rohde said. “I’ve done late night pickups twice now and had bad experiences both times. It just gets so, so backed up.”
He worries the experience could mar Kansas City’s image on the national stage.
“We did such a fantastic job getting the airport (terminal) done on budget and early — it’s so beautiful throughout,” he said. “I hope it doesn’t create a negative story when the story should be what a great airport it is and what a great event it (the NFL Draft) is for Kansas City.”
KCI focused on traffic enforcement
Airport officials understand the public’s frustration with the traffic problems at the new terminal, said Joe McBride, a spokesman for KCI.
They are well aware of the NFL Draft and are doing their best to be ready for it, he said.
“We want the first impression and the last impression of our visitors to be the best possible and that’s what we’re striving to do,” he said.
Traffic control is handled by airport police and airport traffic control officers. Shortly after the new terminal opened, the airport hired a private company to assist in traffic control in the evenings on peak days of the week.
“It’s an all hands on deck as we go into the NFL Draft,” McBride said of the staffing levels for the peak travel days. The airport will ask the private company to step up its staffing as well.
Airport officials think the added travelers will mostly be visitors to Kansas City and won’t put much of an added strain on the regular passenger pickup curb next to the terminal where the airport has been seeing the traffic issues.
Instead, they will be headed to the commercial curb farther from the terminal, where they will be greeted by hotel and car rental shuttles, taxis, ride-share vehicles and limos, he said. Traffic control’s focus will be on keeping the commercial lanes moving.
“We’re not going to let off on the arrivals, policing that and keeping things moving on the normal arrivals because if that backs up, it can impact the commercial side because there’s just two lanes coming in, McBride said.
Traffic control officers will work to keep the regular arrival lanes flowing because the traffic is intermingled until Paris Street on Cookingham Drive into the airport, he said.
None of the airlines using KCI are adding flights, but they have indicated that their flights on the peak travel days will be about 90% full. On an average day they would be 75% full, McBride said.
“So there’s additional people coming to Kansas City, whether or not they’re here for the NFL Draft, you can’t know for sure,” he said.
The busiest arrival days are expected to be Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, with 17,000 to 19,000 travelers arriving. That compares to between 13,000 to 16,000 on a typical day, McBride said. The busiest departure are expected to be April 30 and May 1.
How to use the airport
KCI announced on Twitter Friday that it has new how-to videos on its Youtube channel, including one that instructs passengers how to pick up passengers.
Airport officials are asking people to help keep traffic moving by not sitting in their vehicle at the arrivals curb waiting for their passengers to exit the terminal. That has been against the rules since 9/11, McBride said.
Instead, people need to better time their pickups by using whatever technology is available to them. Even a simple phone call can let drivers know when their travelers are ready to be picked up.
For those who arrive too early at the airport, he suggested that they wait in the cellphone lot near the KCI Marriott hotel.
The perfect timing would be “having that vehicle arrive at the curb when the person steps out to the curb,” McBride said.
‘Kansas City tradition’
Rohde, who picked up a friend after a late-night flight the second day the new terminal, said the problems that he experienced that night still persist.
When asked if anything had changed between the two visits, he simply answered: “No.”
Rohde has flown out of the airport three times and had great experience each time, he said.
But he feels there is a combination of problems that are plaguing the passenger pickup area.
One is that there are two lanes into the arrivals area, yet the signage makes it look like there is only one. And that confuses people.
“And then the proud Kansas City tradition of parking curbside waiting for people for an indeterminate amount of time seems to be be still living on from the old airport (terminals),” he said.
When he was there this week, two of the four lanes were completely full of parked cars. Traffic control officers were pointing, but they didn’t seem like they were making people move, Rohde said.
Rohde responded to the tweet by former Chiefs player Schwartz by relaying his own experience about picking up a friend from a 12:32 a.m. late arriving flight the night before.
“This was my view trying to get from the cell phone lot to the terminal,” Rohde wrote on Twitter. “Took me 15-20 mins to get from here to pick up friend. SO many people parked curbside and the cops there were doing seemingly nothing.”
This story was originally published April 22, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
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