City: Austin, TX

Category: Getting Here, Getting Around

Telephone: (512) 530-3300: Parking Inform

Address: 3600 Presidential Blvd.

Description: Austin was the only city in the United States to embark on a major airport building program as the 20th century drew to a close. In the spring of 1999, the city shut down the municipal airport near downtown Austin, Robert Mueller Municipal Airport, and opened a new international facility in the southeast sector of the city called Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The airport code remains AUS. The same airlines and rental car companies serve the new $690 million airport, but the facility is much larger with twice as many gates, two runways (as opposed to one) aptly named for two famous Texas politicians, President Lyndon Baines Johnson and Congressman J. J. “Jake” Pickle, and a much larger terminal, named in honor of the late Texas congresswoman Barbara Jordan. Austin-Bergstrom has a two-level access road (one level for arrivals, the other for departures) and a three-level parking garage. The site of the old airport is being developed as a major, mixed-use town center that will be a total community. Already located there are the Austin Film Society’s studios and the Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas. There are plans for other health care facilities, plus the University of Texas will build a research campus onsite. Homes, apartments, shops, cafes and open spaces also are planned. For a preview go to www.muelleraustin.com. The designers and builders sought to evoke the spirit of Austin at the new facility by including a stage in the terminal for live music performances and Hill Country landscaping by using water elements, rocks, and native plants. The new terminal includes a business center, 16 restaurants and snack shops (some of them operated by local businesses such as Amy’s Ice Creams, Book People, and the Salt Lick barbecue), retail shops, and bookstores. The restaurants and snack bars sell food at “street prices,” rather than the inflated prices often found at airports. The retail stores feature regional items, including music by Austin musicians and works by local artists and crafters. The airport also offers guided tours for groups of adults and children (5 years and older). Reservations are necessary; call the program at (512) 530-2242. There is also an outdoor family viewing area (with a parking area and picnic tables) on the west side of Highway 71 East, near the east runway, where one acre has been set aside for visitors to watch planes take off and land. The parking garage next to the terminal provides 2,419 covered short-term public parking spaces on the first and second levels. Car rental returns are located on the third level. There is a close-in surface parking lot (Lot A) near the terminal and several outlying long-term lots (Lots B, C, D, E, and F), providing 7,733 parking spaces. There are also several privately operated offsite parking facilities. Shuttle buses run every seven to 10 minutes and 24 hours a day from the parking lots. Airport shuttles from all surface parking lots pick up at shuttle stops within the lots and discharge departing passengers in front of the terminal on the lower baggage level. Airport parking shuttles pick up arriving passengers outside the lower baggage level in front of the terminal and take them to surface parking lots. Wheelchair-accessible parking is available free for up to 5 days in the parking garage and up to 10 days in all parking lots. Wheelchair-accessible parking spots are located on the first available row in the garage and near the shuttle stops in all surface parking lots. Shuttle buses are equipped with wheelchair lifts.