Port Canaveral is planning to build two new parking garages on its north side, adding a total of 2,700 spaces, to handle the increased demand from cruise passengers.

Here are details about the project, which received unanimous Canaveral Port Authority approval for design work funding last week:

Where will the garages be?

A 1,700-space garage serving Cruise Terminals 5 and 6 will be located west of the existing Terminal 6 garage. Cruise lines Carnival, Marella and Royal Caribbean are the primary users of Terminals 5 and 6. Whether this garage will be "pay on entry" or "pay on exit" for motorists is still to be determined.

A 1,000-space garage serving Cruise Terminal 10 will be located east of the existing Terminal 10 garage. MSC and Norwegian are the primary users of Terminal 10. Motorists will pay on entry to the new garage, based on the length of their cruise.

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How many parking garages are there now at Port Canaveral?

There are garages at all six major Port Canaveral cruise terminals, with a total of 6,901 spaces. So the two new garages will increase total cruise garage capacity by 39%.

Why does the port need more garages?

The port has more home-ported ships than it used to, the ships are getting larger, and many passengers are driving their own vehicles to the port, rather than flying into Orlando or Melbourne.

How big a deal is parking revenue to the port?

The port's $17-a-day parking fee adds up. The port estimates that it will earn $39.56 million from cruise parking revenue in its current budget year that ends Sept. 30, representing about 22% of its estimated total operating revenue of $180.35 million.

However, not all the spaces in port garages generate revenue, because some are set aside for cruise line employees.

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What's the construction timeline for the garages?

Port commissioners already have approved the funding and awarded a contract for design work. Requests for bids for the construction of the garages will go out in late July, and port commissioners are scheduled to award the construction contract at their Sept. 20 meeting.

William Crowe, the port's vice president for engineering, construction and facilities, said the target for completing the project is October 2024.

How much will the garages cost?

That won't be known until after port commissioners award the construction contract in September. But, based on past garage construction costs, the total price is expected to be in the tens of millions of dollars.

For example, the port's newest garage, opened in 2020 at Terminal 3, cost $28.44 million for 1,804 spaces ― or about $15,765 per space. Before that, a 1,031-space garage that opened in 2016 at Terminal 5 cost $10.16 million ― or about $9,855 per space.

Were there other options?

Port Canaveral Chief Executive Officer John Murray said port officials were considering building a centralized parking garage to serve multiple cruise terminals, with shuttle service from that garage to the terminals.

But they decided that many cruise passengers like parking next to their terminal, rather than having to deal with getting onto and off of a shuttle bus, as passengers do when they patronize off-site cruise parking businesses run by other entities.

Will this be the port's biggest planned construction project?

It will be one of the biggest.

The port also is starting work on upgrading its North Cargo Berth 4 at an estimated cost of $39.75 million.

And the port plans to build a new cruise terminal and parking garage at the current site of Bluepoints Marina on the port's south side at an estimated cost of $175 million. The new cruise terminal would open in late 2026.

Contact Berman at  dberman@floridatoday.com, on Twitter at @bydaveberman and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dave.berman.54

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Port Canaveral OKs plan to build two more cruise parking garages