Logan parking squeeze tightens

Logan International Airport is facing a severe parking crunch over the next few weeks as school vacations and full flights coincide with the loss of 1,500 parking spaces at the airport's main garage.

Officials with the Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs the airport, say they are prepared to handle the demand by directing travelers to outlying lots, encouraging the use of public transit, and possibly using parking spaces at Suffolk Downs.

Still, Massport is warning travelers to allow 30 extra minutes to find a parking spot -- an alert that started appearing yesterday on electronic message signs on the Massachusetts Turnpike and Interstate 93.

''It's usually like a scavenger hunt," said Nancy Jacobson of Wellesley as she made her way yesterday from her car to Terminal C for a flight to Chicago.

She managed to find a spot in about 10 minutes, but at other times recently, she said, it has taken her more than a half-hour of roaming the main garage, which has lost nearly one-third of its 4,892 spaces during construction that started in 2004 to expand its capacity.

The squeeze is expected to worsen for the rest of the month, one of the busiest travel periods of the year. Massport officials are expecting virtually full flights starting today and running through the Easter weekend. Logan, with about 1,250 daily departures and arrivals, is the nation's 17th busiest airport.

Once the main garage fills up, travelers will be directed to satellite and economy parking. Those lots -- some adjoining the airport, but others in Chelsea and Revere -- offer free shuttle service to all Logan terminals, though Jacobson and other passengers interviewed yesterday said the shuttles are often behind the posted schedule.

In addition, Massport is offering 50 percent discounts for the next few months on round-trip tickets on its Logan Express service, which offers parking in Braintree, Peabody, Woburn, and Framingham, and bus service to the airport.

''Massport encourages passengers to utilize the Logan Express service as well as other modes of transportation, including the MBTA's Silver Line," spokesman Richard Walsh said yesterday. ''We want our customers to know there are travel options available."

The $217.5 million central garage expansion is scheduled to be completed in 2007, adding 2,880 spaces on three levels. That will increase the airport's total count from 11,920 to 14,800, a number that includes lots near the terminals as well as the satellite and economy lots.

The lot at Terminal B has 2,692 spaces, and the two lots at Terminal E offer a total of 500 spaces, Massport says. The central garage often gets spillover when the Terminal B lot is full.

At the same time as construction is reducing parking, Massport is starting a reserved parking program that will let customers get dibs on 500 spaces in the lowest level of the Terminal B garage, in return for an initial fee of $200 plus an additional $5 per day on top of regular parking rates. The Massport board voted yesterday to start the PassPort Gold program June 1.

The program will not exacerbate the space shortage, Walsh said, because nonmembers can park in the preferred spots when they are not reserved. Should the spaces fill up, he said, Massport will valet the cars of members to other lots.

Massport revenue comes mainly from parking, airline fees and rents, and terminal concessions.

Problems with the expansion of the central parking garage forced Massport to raise the project's budget by $12.5 million in November. Construction crews found buried asbestos, severely deteriorated concrete decks, and seams of underground volcanic rock that snarled excavation work.

Until the project is complete, travelers will be competing for fewer parking spaces.

The number of available spaces is fluctuating during the construction. As many as 1,800 spaces have been closed.

Inside the central garage yesterday, where spaces could be found in about 10 minutes, some cars were partially blocking passageways. Signs provided emergency numbers if a vehicle was blocked by another car.

Jim Bumpus, 41, of Concord, who was returning from a business trip to Chicago yesterday, said it has taken him upward of 25 minutes to find a space in recent months.

If he can catch an early-morning flight out of Logan, he risks driving and parking. But if he can't, he parks at his downtown Boston office and takes a cab.

''Just to avoid the stress," he said. ''It's really difficult. You really have to think about when you're coming here."

Ben Beauvais of Boxford said he is frustrated by Logan's parking system, which he says does not give travelers enough notice about whether there are spaces available in the central parking garage. In February, he said, he first went to the garage, then a sign told him to go to economy parking.

In the 40 minutes it took to park, he missed his flight, he said. Later, he said he sneaked into the closed garage and found plenty of open spots.

''Why are they closing the garage with plenty of parking?" he wrote the Globe's Starts & Stops column.

Massport lists whether parking lots are open on its website, on message boards along Logan roads, and on its Logan Radio station (1650 AM). But it does not tell travelers how many spaces are available and where.

Inside the central garage, Massport employees are usually on duty to direct drivers to open spaces.

Mac Daniel can be reached at mdaniel@globe.com.