DENVER — Have you tried getting a rental car at Denver International Airport? If you have, you know how difficult it can be at times. But that headache may be easing soon.
DIA announced Monday the site location for the consolidated rental car facility (ConRAC). The site will have space for more than 16,000 vehicles inside a covered, multi-level one-stop shop. A request for proposals will begin in late 2024.
The airport has outgrown the current rental car program, which uses 12,760 parking spaces. The ConRAC will be constructed to meet 2045 growth projections to serve 120+ million passengers in the future, airport officials said in a news release.
A major benefit of this location, airport officials said, is the potential to extend an Automated People Mover (APM) along 78th Avenue to serve additional public or employee parking, additional transportation modes, as well as commercial development as the current sites are redeveloped.
“Having a ConRAC will provide much-needed room for growth, a better customer experience and a more sustainable program, especially if coupled with a people-moving solution to eliminate rental car shuttles,” DEN CEO Phil Washington said in a news release. “Introducing the ConRAC concept to DEN is a better operational system for managing industry changes.”
Funding for the ConRAC project is supported through user fees paid by customers who rent cars at the airport. The rate is currently $6 per car per day, the mid-point of the fee charged at large U.S. airports.
