Restrictions lifted at Augusta airport Bar Harbor, Rockland, Presque Isle also expect to have limits removed

AUGUSTA – A restriction on parking within 300 feet of the passenger terminal and the mandatory presence of police officers have been lifted at the airport serving the state capital.

The restrictions, imposed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, were withdrawn by the Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday.

Manager Bob McGee told the Kennebec Journal that the FAA has put the airport in a low-risk category because of its small size. Other small commercial airports that also are expected to lift the 300-foot parking restrictions immediately are in Bar Harbor, Rockland and Presque Isle.

In Augusta, airport workers used heavy equipment Thursday night to move the boulders, ropes and signs that ringed the parking lots.

National Guard troops remained even though police officers were pulled, eliminating a monthly overtime expense of $10,000 for the city.

Those benefiting from the changes at the airport include a restaurateur who had to close his business, a rental car agency that had been barred from using the parking lots, and a company that operates charter flights.

Larger commercial airports are still bound by the 300-foot parking restriction. But the Portland International Jetport received a waiver that allowed it to reopen most of a three-level parking garage near the passenger terminal.

The reopening of most of the parking garage except for ground level parking directly across from the terminal was accompanied by bans on cargo vans, pickups with camper shells and commercial vehicles.

The relaxing of the FAA rules does not affect Bangor International Airport, the state’s second-largest airport.

Interim airport director Rebecca Hupp said she did not expect the parking restrictions to be lifted at the major Maine hub anytime in the foreseeable future, but added that the airport still has adequate parking despite the restrictions.