HOUSTON — On Sunday night, a lot of people reached out to KHOU 11 News to report delays getting out of the parking garage at George Bush Intercontinental Airport. And now the airport is responding.
KHOU 11 managing editor Bill Bishop first received a message on X Sunday night about the backups and started to investigate. He asked on social media if others were having issues and sure enough, a lot of airport visitors were. You shared photos and videos of the issues getting out of the parking garage. Some of you said it took up to a couple of hours to get out.
In a news release sent out Monday afternoon, Houston Airports Director of Aviation Jim Szczesniak acknowledged the delay, saying that a couple of things contributed to it. He said one reason was that the airport was at peak traffic. He also mentioned there was an accident involving a vehicle and a pedestrian at the exit of the Terminal C, D and E garage and emergency vehicles were blocking one of the two exit lanes.
Houston police said one exit lane was blocked off by police and firefighters after a driver ran over a parking attendant's foot. People stuck in the traffic jam said they didn't know what was going on.
"I apologize for the extended delay, frustration and lack of communication our passengers experienced while exiting the IAH Terminal C/D/E Garage Sunday night," Szczesniak said.
Emily and Ben Nipper were eager to get home after their family vacation.
"Traveling with a 2-year-old is always super fun," Emily said.
After landing, she took their son to the car while Ben went to get their bags.
"When we split up, we didn't know we were going to be apart for three hours," Ben said.
She said she sat through the wait on the sixth floor while her child voiced his displeasure.
"It was about 30 minutes of him screaming before he calmed down and accepted the situation, but yeah, it was a headache," she said. "We paid a premium to park at the terminal because we have the stroller and the pack and play and car seat with our kid so you think that's better than the shuttle, but man, I wish I did the Eco Lot or Uber. This was just ridiculous."
Michelle Stephens said she waited in line for hours, too, and is glad the airport responded.
"I accept that because I was a little irritated that when I checked out I had no recourse, had to pay extra for the two and a half hours I sat in the garage," Stephens said.
Szczesniak did acknowledge that it took hours for some people to get out of the parking garage. He also said an email was going out to parking customers who had reservations and were affected by the traffic jam, saying they would receive a promotion code for their next trip to the parking garage for up to three days. Customers who didn’t have a reservation can email a copy of their receipt to sgi.service@spplus.com to get the code.
Houston Airports said it did a few things this summer to try to avoid major traffic backups. In the news release sent out Monday, it listed them out:
- Hired more people to direct traffic along our roads and throughout our parking garages.
- Added more law enforcement officers and extended their hours to direct traffic and control traffic lights.
- Added a dedicated Exit Lane for the IAH Terminal C/D/E Garage.
- Dispatched parking attendants on all six levels of the IAH Terminal C/D/E Garage to meter exiting traffic so that customers parked on upper floors were not at a disadvantage to customers parked on lower floors when exiting during peak travel periods.
- Added signage on all six levels of the IAH Terminal C/D/E Garage which notify customers of “heavy roadway traffic, please expect delays exiting the garage.”
- Began messaging traffic impacts of peak travel days – which includes Sundays.
- Initiated announcements in IAH Terminals inviting passengers to take their time departing the airport during peak periods.