Global Press

The National Parking Association (NPA) announced the winners of its 2015 Innovation Awards during today’s Innovation Awards Luncheon at NPA’s 64th Annual Convention & Expo being held this week in Miami, Fla.

"Each NPA Innovation Award winner represents excellence, best practices and innovation in the parking industry,” said NPA president Christine Banning, CAE. “The winners demonstrate professionalism and parking best practices while using leadership and state-of-the-art technology to improve safety, sustainability and bottom line results.”

INDECT USA, the parking industry’s leading provider of sensor-based parking guidance systems, today announced that the company has completed a groundbreaking parking guidance installation at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport’s Terminal A. The $176 million program featured the installation of parking sensors in each of the terminal’s 6,050 covered spaces.

The mounted sensors are located above each parking space, offering a clear view to drivers of where open spaces can be found, and what type of parking is permitted in an individual space. Different colors indicate each space’s status: green for available, red for occupied, blue for HP, and white for one hour parking. The lights are clearly visible from several hundred yards away, and signage at the end of each driving aisle also indicates how many spaces, and what types of spaces, are available adjacent to travelers’ departure gates.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel sought to jump-start his second-term agenda Wednesday, pitching a plan to allow drivers to reserve airport parking spaces for an extra $10 a day, hitting up off-site airport parking companies for 10 percent of their take and winning approval of a plan to borrow $1.1 billion to shore up the city's shaky finances.

The airport proposal unveiled at the City Council meeting is a way for Emanuel to provide higher-end services to travelers and also protect paid parking at O'Hare International Airport from being undercut by lower-cost garages in nearby suburbs.

Drivers could reserve parking spaces for an extra $10 a day at O'Hare and Midway, and the city eventually wants to offer amenities like car washing, detailing and maintenance services for people who leave their cars at the airports while flying out of town. Emanuel's ordinance also sets the stage for a "frequent parker program" that would allow people who park often at the airports to earn awards.

Travelers going through Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport this summer can expect some changes, including a deal on express parking, more free Wi-Fi and phone charging stations and new shops and restaurants.

And lots and lots of people.

Along with issuing its summer travel forecast for 2015 — a record 18 million passengers are expected this vacation season, up from 17 million in 2014 — airport officials on Thursday showcased a range of new services and facilities.