ATLANTA — The world's busiest airport will soon have more parking spots - but travelers will have to deal with some construction first.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport will begin construction on its new south parking deck next month; the south economy lot will close Oct. 23 to make way for the work.
The south economy lot, which has 3,000 spots, will be closed for months. The new parking garage is anticipated to open in 2026 and will have 6,700 spaces.
Airport officials said they have contingencies planned in the meantime.
"We’re redirecting individuals to our ATL West parking product which is connected by the Sky Train," Deputy General Manage Jai Ferrell said during a news conference Thursday. "We have our Park Select product which is connected by shuttle and you are able to get picked up and dropped off at your vehicle."
The plan is also to reopen the portion of the north parking deck that has been closed for months. Airport leaders stressed despite the inconvenience, the improvements are necessary for safety as the current parking deck is more than 40 years old.
Once completed, the new parking deck will have digital parking space availability, ticketless entry and exit, and a pedestrian bridge connecting to the Domestic Terminal.
It's just one phase of planned improvements at the airport.
Renderings of south parking deck at Atlanta airport
"We’re gonna build what we call south deck one, first, to basically add capacity then as we finish that in three years we will start the demolition of the south deck," Frank Rucker, who oversees the airport's capital investment project, explained. "Once we’ve completed that, we will start the demolition of the north deck and reconstruct that."
With grand plans in the works comes a few headaches.
"Just add another thing to the joy that is parking here at Hartsfield," Atlanta resident Chad Brooks said.
Officials said travelers should anticipate changes in traffic patterns and available parking spaces amid the construction.
"It already takes me 45 minutes to get to the airport on top of parking so I’m not excited about that I can tell you that much," traveler Katelyn Steele said.
The best advice officials had for travelers navigating the construction is to give themselves extra time to park and to pay extra attention to the signage and traffic changes.