Gainesville Regional Airport (GNV) held a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday, celebrating its latest expansion project: a four-level, 418-space parking garage and intermodal transportation center.
County and City leaders, agency officials, hospitality partners and well-wishers gathered at the construction site of the facility and heard from airport and community leaders about the benefits the project will bring.
“This project has been years in the planning and promises to be another important milestone in our continuing efforts to provide high quality air services and passenger facilities to our region,” said Allan Penksa, GNV’s Chief Executive Officer.
Gainesville Alachua County Airport Authority (GACRAA) Board Member Todd Chase remarked, “This four-level facility provides approximately 420 new parking spaces and will help meet our parking needs for years to come. The intermodal center portion of this project, with major funding by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Program, will result in less curb congestion during busy flight times, improving safety.”
The intermodal center will provide a convenient place for waiting city bus riders and those meeting Uber, Lyft and taxicabs, reducing loading and unloading directly in front of the terminal. The facility will also include convenient restrooms and covered seating for travelers awaiting pick-up.
Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward commented on how far the airport has come since he was a child and consisted of several portable buildings, “so every time we add something else to this, I feel real good about it.”
The approximately $13 million dollar facility will be funded by three entities. The $1.8 million-dollar intermodal transportation center portion of the project, which includes staging areas for ground vehicles, covered walkways, a bus canopy and restrooms, will be funded 90% by a federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) grant administered through the FAA. The balance of the project costs are to be funded equally by GACRAA and grants from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT).
Mr. Chase commented that GNV is in the midst of approximately $52 million dollars in improvements currently in development with more to come, thanks to the support of state and federal partners and airline passengers through collection of passenger facility charges (PFCs). Recent projects include $21 million of investment in existing airfield taxiways and aircraft parking aprons, expansion and renovation of airline ticket offices and the first phase of a new baggage handling system, which will soon break ground.
The project construction team will be led by Scherer Construction, as design-builder. Team members include Michael Baker International (design and engineering); Coreslab Structures (precast parking structure); VoltAir Inc. (mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering); Cal-Tech Testing, Inc. (geotechnical engineering); JBPro (surveying and permitting support) and Blue Leaf Landscape Architects.
The anticipated timeframe for the project will be 10 to 12 months.
