Sacramento airport is adding thousands of new parking spots. What about off-site options?
Sacramento International Airport has started work on a $1.3 billion expansion project, and it includes more parking.
In July, airport officials announced plans for additional parking as part of the “SMForward” initiative, which is expected to be completed by 2028.
Will that be enough for airport travelers?
Sacramento Bee reader Chris Cochran asked Bee Curious, “Why does the Sacramento International Airport have no off-site parking?”
“There are very few hotels miles away that offer a few parking spaces, but you have to Uber to the airport,” Cochran wrote. “Every major and most medium airports in the state have long-established off-site parking with shuttles, but SMF patrons must suffer the higher prices, long searches and longer waits.”
The Bee reached out to the Sacramento County Department of Airports to find out the answer.
Here’s what we learned:
Where can I park at Sacramento airport? How much does it cost?
As of Friday, Sacramento International Airport had a total of 17,400 parking spaces available for use, Department of Airports spokesperson Scott Johnston wrote in an email to The Bee.
Travelers in need of long-term parking can use the west economy lot, which has 3,200 spaces, and the east economy lot, which has 6,000 spaces.
Both economy lots cost a maximum of $11 per day. The east lot offers a short-term option — $2 per half-hour — as well.
Shuttle service is provided at each economy lot, with shuttles picking up travelers in 25- to 30-minute intervals.
According to the airport website, it can take up to 60 minutes from the time you park to the time you arrive at the terminal.
Other options include the Terminal A parking garage, which has 5,200 spaces. Parking there costs $2 for each half hour, with a maximum $20 per day maximum.
The daily lot, which has 3,000 spots available, costs $2 for every 30 minutes of parking or up to $13 per day.
When will more airport parking become available?
More parking is expected to become available as projects become completed, airport officials said.
In October, the airport closed its 700-space hourly parking lot on the west side of Terminal B to make way for a new, six-story parking garage.
The Terminal B parking garage, which is expected to cost $390 million, will bring an additional 4,500 to 5,500 parking spaces by October 2026, Sacramento International Airport spokeswoman Lindsay Myers said in July.
“We know nearby parking is in high demand,” Myers said. “We have added additional shuttle buses to our fleet to include this expansion of economy parking.”
Once built, the total number of parking spaces at the Sacramento airport will exceed 20,000 spots.
A new long-term parking lot with 3,000 spots is underway for the south frontage at the airport near the AM-PM and Arco gas station, Johnston told The Bee in October.
Construction on the south economy parking lot won’t be completed until the spring, Johnston said Monday.
Why doesn’t the airport have off-site parking?
According to Johnston, Sacramento International Airport has actively engaged several developers to address off-site parking inquiries.
“We don’t discourage off-site competition,” Johnston wrote in an email to The Bee. “Developers have pointed out SMF’s large availability of economy parking at competitive rates.”
“Because of that,” he added, “it would be challenging to open a new lot further away with comparable pricing.”
What other changes are coming to the airport?
Additional parking is just one of the upgrades coming to the airport.
The SMForward initiative, first announced in February 2023, includes a pedestrian walkway, six to eight new gates in Terminal B, a new car rental center, a ground transportation center to the airport’s campus and an additional parking garage by the end of 2028.
The pedestrian walkway is expected to be completed in December, as previously reported by The Bee.
Additional Terminal B gates are expected to be ready in the spring, and the rental car facility could be completed this summer.
According to Sacramento International Airport’s quarterly report, released in July, expansion projects at Terminal A and Concourse B will be ready by March 2027 and January 2028, respectively.
The new ground transportation center is anticipated to be completed by June 2027, the report said.
This story was originally published January 29, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Sacramento airport is adding thousands of new parking spots. What about off-site options?."
