A $10.2 million project to improve an employee parking lot at Kaua‘i’s Līhu‘e Airport is underway.
The state Department of Transportation said in an announcement Tuesday that the work will help relieve some congestion in the airport’s public parking lot.
According to the DOT, the project involves upgrading an existing gravel lot — located northeast of the main terminal and used for overflow employee parking — with asphalt concrete paving, marked parking stalls, lighting, access control, security cameras, drainage and other improvements.
When the work is finished, the 2.3-acre paved lot will accommodate up to 347 employee vehicles — an increase of about 117 stalls, the announcement noted.
Parking at the airport is limited for both the public and airport employees.
DOT says that the public lot has 578 stalls while the main employee parking lot has 333, “but availability varies during peak travel periods when a portion of the employee stalls are made available to the public, forcing employees to park in the overflow gravel lot.”
The additional capacity in the overflow employee lot will offer more flexibility to use the stalls in the main employee lot for the public should the need arise during peak travel times, the announcement states.
Alpha Inc. is the project contractor and the work is expected to be finished by the fall. A DOT spokesperson told Aloha State Daily by email that the $10.2 million for the project comes from airport revenue bonds.
Additionally, the DOT says another project is in the works to expand the airport’s public parking capacity by converting two small, landscaped, semi-circle-shaped parcels at each end of the existing lot. That project, which the department says is still in the design phase and aiming to be finished in the first half of 2029, could add an estimated 128 public parking stalls, according to preliminary assessments, the announcement noted.
More options for expanding public and employee parking also are being considered as part of a long-term Līhu‘e Airport Optimization Plan, which the department says is "still under development and would need community and stakeholder input."
In September, it was announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation had awarded nearly $51.32 million in federal grant funding for runway improvements at Līhu‘e Airport. An announcement at that time from U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz said the funds would be used to help complete the airport's ongoing runway relocation project and aims improve takeoff and taxiway operations.
(And ICYMI: the DOT also offers free wayfinding apps that aim to help air travelers navigate terminals; check flight information; and find restaurants, shops, and other amenities and services.
You can currently get the HNL Airport app for the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu and the LIH Airport app for the Līhu‘e Airport free from Google Play and Apple Store, but the DOT said in December that the OGG Airport App for Kahului Airport, the KOA Airport app for the Ellison Onizuka International Airport at Keāhole are expected to launch this month while an app for Hilo International Airport is in development and expected to be ready by late March, the DOT noted last month).
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Stephanie Salmons can be reached at stephanie@alohastatedaily.com.
