Sioux Falls Regional Airport’s management team has been working with Mead and Hunt consulting firm to build a new master plan for the airport.
The first stage of the master plan is to add a parking garage to support the need for additional parking.
The new four-level parking garage will add just under 1,000 new parking spaces.
Eric Ellefson is Downtown Sioux Falls Rotary Club president-elect and a licensed pilot. He said that increasing parking space is a priority as more than half of people who choose to park their car are from surrounding cities.
“Something I was educated on early on, is that 67% of our actual traffic that utilizes the parking areas within Sioux Falls Regional Airport, are actually from outside of Minnehaha and Lincoln county,” said Ellefson.
Dan Letellier is the Executive Director of Sioux Falls Regional Airport. He said the first stages of the project will be seeking outside funding as federal dollars will not be enough.
“The primary funding source will be the federal government. But asking them for $130 million dollars, well, that’s not happening. We would be fortunate to secure a little over half of that from the federal government. Even if we are able to secure that funding, they will want to know there is local support, local ‘skin in the game’ so to speak,” said Letellier.
State legislators are currently considering Senate Bill 158 which would provide additional funding to airport projects across the state.
Parking expansion is only one part of the master plan which also includes new terminals to flex with the expected growth. Letellier said within the next 15 years the Sioux Falls Regional Airport will need to grow from its current seven gates to 14.
Letellier said that parking garage construction will begin April 3 of this year and is expected to be completed by October of 2024.
