Spokane International Airport has awarded a $5 million contract to Westway Construction Inc., of Spokane, to reconfigure its surface parking areas.

As part of the project, the main parking lot's six-lane exit and payment-booth area will be moved from its current location along Airport Drive on the east side of the main parking lot to a spot along Tower Road, about 200 feet to the northwest at its intersection with McFarlane Road, says SIA spokesman Todd Woodard. Tower Road will be converted to a one-way, three-lane road heading northeast from the exit booth, and will be vacated to the southwest of the booth all the way to the southwestern loop of Airport Drive. Drivers exiting onto Tower will connect with Airport Drive a short distance to the northeast to exit the airport property.

By vacating Tower to the southwest, the airport will be able to consolidate into one larger lot its main outdoor lot and the economy lot located northwest of Tower, Woodward says. Parking in the expanded lot will all be priced at the current outdoor parking rate, but the north shuttle lot, located northeast along Flint Road and Airport Drive, still will be available at lesser cost, Woodard says.

The airport will convert the space used currently by the exit booth area into 170 additional parking spaces in the main lot, as well as 12 to 15 more parking-meter spaces and additional vendor parking outside the main lot that will be accessible from Airport Drive, Woodard says.

A major part of the overall project is the installation of a new financial tracking software system so the airport can track income from all the parking lots better, Woodard says. Westway will hire a subcontractor to put in that software, he says.

The work is expected to begin around the end of this month and be completed by mid-fall, Woodard says. Because the new exit plaza will be constructed before the current one is removed airport patrons will experience minimal impact during the construction, he says.