New road, traffic pattern at Spokane airport

SPOKANE – Spokane International Airport will be open a 3,000-foot extension of inbound Airport Drive to vehicle traffic starting at 9 a.m. today.

The transition to the new roadway, which will be just past Flint Road and near the airport’s cell waiting phone lot, brings a traffic pattern change to drivers who are accessing the curbside at the airport terminal buildings.

Motorists who are driving to the terminal building to drop off departing passengers or pick up arriving travelers — as well as hotel shuttles, courtesy shuttles/buses, rideshare companies and taxis dropping off customers at the terminal — will proceed straight in the right lane to the new roadway toward the terminal. Vehicles on the new roadway will not be able to access any of the airport’s parking lots.

Travelers and those looking to park and transit to the terminal, along with taxis looking to queue up for pickup fares, will use the left lane on the existing inbound Airport Drive to park in the outside parking lot, one of the two garages or hourly parking. Motorists will not be able to access the curbside at the terminal buildings and will have to follow a return to terminal route to access the terminal curb.

Signage will direct drivers to their desired location. Between the traffic revision and pavement rehabilitation work that will take place on the old inbound Airport Drive route over the next few weeks, all drivers heading to the airport are asked to allow extra time to arrive at the airport and slow down around the transition area and ongoing construction work.

The traffic pattern change only affects vehicle traffic on inbound Airport Drive. Drivers exiting either the airport’s parking lots or the terminal will not be impacted and exit as usual onto outbound Airport Drive as they leave the airport complex.