swag

Just 4 years after the new terminal opened.

https://www.nola.com/news/traffic/he...f7120e0b.html#

Blumie

That's great news. As I've noted above, traffic to and from the airport really has not been that bad, even without the flyover. Now (hopefully) it will be better.

JAXPax

This is good to see. Though it is always frustrating when different parts of infrastructure that should be coordinated come online so far apart.

Out of my own curiosity: Does Louisiana, or rather the New Orleans area in particular, have many divergent diamond interchanges? My freeway exit here in North Carolina was one of the first 3 in the state and has been open a few years in this layout. A lot of people still somehow miss the turn to the onramp (which my primary path to the freeway is out through the first traffic lighted intersection beyond the interchange and thus is clogged with people making U-turns) or they stop for lights that aren't theirs. Such as in the MSY case, those going north on Loyola to take I-10 west won't have a traffic light to make that left turn and it's a continuous go since transitioning from the other side of the road, but here people slow or try and stop thinking they also have to obey the lights for those continuing northbound (to transition back over to the correct side). I use "correct" as meaning traditional right side in direction of traffic. I guess combine all this with tourists (or remind me - are rental cars gaining access to 10 another way in this setup?) and will be interested to see in 6 months what the feedback is. Supposedly this type of interchange is safer and has a higher throughput.

swag

There are only about 150 nationwide, and this will be the first in Louisiana.

travelmad478

I’m not super confident that drivers here will be able to easily navigate this very unfamiliar setup—New Orleans drivers are, shall we say, not great at following traffic laws at the best of times. (For instance, it’s a general rule that you never just step on the gas and go when a traffic light turns green—you have to carefully look both ways first—because there is a very high probability that someone flying down the perpendicular street will just ignore the red light and sail through the intersection anyway.)

As for rental cars, they do actually go a different and much simpler way. The rental car facility is back at the “old” airport terminal, the one that has always had a dedicated flyway onto I-10.

We flew home to MSY last night and were delayed 4 hours in IAH on our way in…I first saw this news while there and was joking that our connection might be delayed so long that we’d be able to take the flyover on that trip 😂 That didn’t happen, but I will be testing it out on Oct. 12 when I drive Mr. travelmad478 to the airport for a business trip to ORD.

kale73

It can’t be more disconcerting than the elevated traffic circle at the intersection of Airline and Causeway or the I-10 interchange at Carrolton,

Lately I’ve been heading west from the rental car center and taking the I-310 from Airline in St Charles Parish up to I-10.

Glad to hear the new flyover is finally operational. My next flight to MSY will probably be in early November.

travelmad478

I’m OK with the Airline-Causeway “circle” but I swear, the weirdness of the I-10 exit onto Carrollton—or is it an I-10 exit back onto I-10?—keeps me using Waze even though I’ve lived here for six years. I live Uptown and have to use that exit a lot (usually to get to Howard/Norman C. Francis), and I really have no idea what the road designers were thinking.

Smaug

Thumbs up for the new overpass. It cut off about 5 minutes getting to MSY with not having to deal with the Loyola and Veterans intersections.

Thumbs way down to the parking situation. The "real time" parking count for all the garages on the flysy.com site showed good availability for both the short and long term garages, but security was blocking all entrances saying they were full. Even when I showed them the page, they sent me away.

That cost me at least 30 minutes and an almost missed flight since I had to drive all the way to the economy garage. Not to mention the shuttle situation...

travelmad478

Looking forward to testing it out next Friday!

And thank you for reminding me to make a parking reservation for our trip in December.

Blumie

I have yet to use (or need to use) the parking reservation service, but I wonder if the ability to make a reservation explains why people were being turned away even though the app showed available spaces.

Also, isn't valet parking available now? I suspect (but don't know for certain) that that would still have been available even when short- and long-term parking are full.

travelmad478

That is my assumption as well.

I haven’t used the reservation service yet, but there was one time that we actually did need it—the walkable lots were all full and I had to dump Mr. travelmad478 and the suitcases at the terminal, shlep all the way to Economy, and take the shuttle back. Luckily the gods were smiling on me and we’d allowed just slightly more lead time than usual that day, so I made it back before boarding started, but Mr. travelmad478 was very anxious. This time we’ll do the reservation.

I think there is valet, yes. Not sure what the price differential is there.

MCIUnitedGuy

There is valet. It is on departures level and it is actually very convenient. Cost is $36 per day. I had to use it one time when the walkable lots were full. Not an ideal situation but better than missing that flight. Learned the lesson and always reserve in advance now.

swag

It seems reserved parking has a minimum charge of one full day.

I've been burned before, picking up / dropping off my elderly mother, when no terminal parking was available. So I figured I'd reserve a short term space; I just need an hour assuming the flight is close to on time. Without reserving, one hour of short term is $2. Reserving, it's $24.

Blumie

I used reserved short-term parking for the first time and it worked great. After paying on line you get an email with a QR code to enter and exit the garage. Far better than worrying if parking will be full.

Blumie

New parking rates going into effect at MSY:

• Short-term garage: increasing from $22 a day to $26
• Long-term garage: increasing from $20 a day to $22
• Surface lot: increasing from $18 a day to $20
• Economy garage: continuing at $12 a day
• Valet: continuing at $36 a day

Hourly rates

• Short-term garage: first half hour free; increasing from $2 to $3 each half hour after that
• Long-term garage: first half hour remains $4; increasing from $2 to $3 each half hour after that
• Surface lot: first half hour free; increasing from $2 to $3 each half hour after that
• Economy garage: first half hour remains $4; increasing from $2 to $3 each half hour after that