Cherry Capital Airport Parking Study Outlines Up to $80M in Possible Upgrades Over 20 Years

A 20-year parking and ground-transportation plan for Cherry Capital Airport outlines potential upgrades totaling up to $80 million, but airport officials were quick to frame the figure as a theoretical ceiling after the study was presented to the Northwest Regional Airport Authority's Building & Grounds Committee this week.

"If you implemented all the changes that were in that plan, it would probably amount to that $80 million mark," said Bob Nelesen, TVC's airport engineer and zoning administrator. "There is no plan on doing that."

The study, prepared by engineering firm Mead & Hunt, culminated more than a year of research into TVC's parking needs and vehicular movement around the facility. The airport board approved a $149,214 contract with Mead & Hunt in January 2025 to produce the long-range plan. The committee, however, sent the completed study back to consultants for additional work, specifically to incorporate how a new airport hotel planned for construction later this year would affect traffic flows and parking demand.

The core finding is a parking deficit that already exists and will deepen. TVC currently has about 1,348 public parking stalls against a baseline need of roughly 1,568, a shortfall of more than 400 spaces. As annual enplanements grow from approximately 340,000 today to an estimated 568,000 by 2042, that gap is projected to balloon to nearly 1,500 spaces.

Nelesen pointed to TVC's recently opened economy lot as a practical near-term solution. The lot, which offers 369 spaces at $11 per day, has already proven popular with travelers. "The economy lot in particular, in what we're able to do to expand that economy lot, is going to be able to serve our current and future parking needs out, probably 10 or 15 years," Nelesen said. Additional economy lot expansions could follow at modest cost, he indicated.

Beyond the economy lot, the Mead & Hunt study recommends a broader menu of improvements: valet parking, electric vehicle charging stations, covered parking with solar canopies, premium reserved spaces, and a ground transportation center that would consolidate shuttle, rideshare, and rental car curbfront operations into a single facility.

Whether any of those larger-ticket items advance will depend in part on revised analysis that accounts for the planned hotel, whose construction could significantly reshape both parking supply and vehicle circulation at the airport. The committee's decision to send the study back ensures that project will be factored in before any recommendations move closer to adoption.