O'Hare Economy Parking Lot E permanently closing 6/1/2020.
 

The O'Hare parking web page was updated today to announce the permanent closure of Economy Parking Lot E on 6/1/2020:

Does anyone know why or what is going on there?

I don't know for sure but you've piqued my curiosity. Is something new going there in the expansion?

Or possibly an idea from FAR left field - I saw in an article that runway 27L/9R is going to be lengthened by over a half mile - is that extension on the east side of that runway? If so, I'm purely guessing that maybe lot E will end up as taxiways for the longer runway?

I would think they'd have to close G too if runways/taxiways were the case.

What are they planning to do with the former rental car lots south of E?

This article sheds a little bit of light I think: https://airportimprovement.com/artic...s-one-facility

So I'm wondering if they might at least need to close off the far southern part of G some time in the future? Not sure... they've already moved the cell phone lot from that area and I bet the auto pound will be moving if it hasn't already.

That article seems a little dubious. The path of runway 9R/27L goes right over over the former rental car lots but the extension is on the west side. The new 9C/27C extends no further east than 9R/27L ever did but I can see why that would require the closing of the cell phone lot. Now maybe they wanted to extend the safety zone eastward into the former rental car lots and that could account for Lot E closing as well. OTOH, the ATS goes right through the middle of Lot E. Of course at the rate that project is going, it may never be an issue. :rolleyes:

It must be something to make them close a cash cow like that down

Maybe it's related to demand right now? Why pay to run buses to a lot that's not needed with air traffic down 90+%?

I think there is more total capacity than say 5 years ago with the garage replacing the surface lot F. IINM, the garage has almost twice the spaces for long term parking than the lot did (2 floors for parking, about the same size as the lot used to be?).

So, they may be able to lose E and not have less space than they used to historically. That would have been the plan all along with building the garage.

Now that the ATS is finally running, is there any thoughts of reopening the Lot E?

I suspect the space has been repurposed. I believe it is being used by some of the auto rental companies as well as for a city auto impound lot.

I believe the ATS station is still existing. Wouldn't they tear it down during the ATS construction if it will never be used.

E is used for employee parking. They had to swap H and E lots to accommodate the demand.