CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — Parking is at a premium at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, and that means some drivers are choosing to park in places that may not be safe.
This is video of people parked along the airport exit off Interstate 85 South, near Camp Creek Parkway.
Channel 2’s Audrey Washington was live on I-85 right by that exit.
People in charge at the airport said they don’t want people to park along that road because they say with cars zooming by it’s not necessarily safe.
A long line of cars are parked along the side. It’s a growing trend that the airport wants stopped.
Kelly Nicholson says its not safe: “Oh no, this is horrible.”
But it’s convenient. “I needed to get in, and I knew I would have to drive around like five times.”
She is among the scores of drivers who all park along the side of the I-85 south exit to the airport.
Channel 2 captured this video of the growing trend.
“I have a client and it’s much easier to just slide into the airport,” limo driver Abdullah Sonko said.
Many drivers said they park along the side of the road because they simply don’t know where else to park.
Abdullah Sonko says he parks on the side of the road because there isn’t enough open parking for limo drivers.
“The authorities have kind of made it difficult for limo drivers. We basically don’t have anywhere to park at the airport besides private parking areas,” Sonko said
Channel 2 put that theory to the test and drove around. Though not easy to get to, Channel 2 found the “park and wait” lot just about a quarter mile from the airport exit.
Kelly says she put the “park and wait” lot in her GPS but had no luck: “It didn’t show up as an option when I put it in the GPS.”
In an email an airport spokesperson wrote in part: “Customers are allowed to park at any of the open lots. The cell phone lot has been renamed the “Park and Wait”. Our ATL Enforcement officers enforce parking rules on Airport grounds.”
Anyone caught parking along the side of the road, will be asked to move to the “park and wait” lot.
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