The Tri-Cities Airport wants to make it easier for visitors dropping off and picking up passengers to find parking and that means the prime parking spots are about to get pricier. 

Port of Pasco commissioners unanimously approved new parking rates for the airport’s three lots during their Nov. 12 regular meeting.  

While the airport’s least expensive lot, commonly called the credit card or green lot, will see no increases, the short-term parking lot closest to the terminal will see its daily rate jump 50% to $25 a day beginning Jan. 1. 

“If you really want to park in short term overnight, you should pay for it. That’s a premium parking spot,” Buck Taft, the airport’s director, told commissioners. 

Despite adding the 500 parking stalls in the green lot in 2024, Taft said there were only as many as 20 available across all three lots during the last holiday season.  

The short-term parking lot, primarily meant to serve those coming for brief periods to assist travelers, has had particularly bad congestion, with many using it for overnight parking and rarely leaving any open stalls. 

The airport also aims to ease anxiety about going over free parking limits. While free parking will no longer be permitted in the green lot, the length of free parking will triple to 30 minutes in the long-term lot, while free parking in short-term lot will double to one hour. 

Taft said the intent is for the higher daily rate for short-term parking to push more of those parking overnight at the airport to use the other lots. 

The next closest lot, long-term parking, will see a slight increase of $2 an hour to $14 per day, which will be less than the current short-term parking daily rate. Hourly rates of $2 will remain the same over all lots.