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Date Day Time Condition Count: Fen Red Yel Gre Org Blu bik TOTAL %cap 9/ 2/95 Total Spaces EXACT 122 151 408 472 300 112 - 1565 9/ 2/95 Sat 3:00p Labor Day Shutdown EXACT 14 6 11 9 28 14 0 82 5% 9/ 5/95 Tue 10:00p Normal weekday eve EXACT 15 7 26 45 65 36 6 200 13% 9/ 6/95 Wed 12:30p Weekday peak EstA 100 60% 70% 50% 98% 75 12? 1094 70% 12/27/95 Wed midday Xmas recess (see below) 1/10/96 Wed 10:00p Nighttime EXACT 257 257 16% 1/25/96 Wed 10:00p Nighttime EXACT 287 287 18% |
"Bik" above refers to total motorcycles and bicycles parked on lot or bike rack.
EstA = exact count where number given; estimate where % given. Number followed by "?" indicates a guess.
Space count (9/2/95). Orange section includes 15 spaces where cars park in one motorcycle row during peak periods (Count amended 9/6). Count does not include other motorcycle section.
Inventory 9/2/95. This was the middle of a 4-day Labor Day weekend. (Workers had both Friday and Monday off.) The population of the parking lot was presumably at one of its lowest ebbs of the year. About 10-20 cars in the parking lot had government plates; many of those appear to be permanently parked there and may not represent active personnel. In addition to vehicle count of 82 vehicles in parking lot, 2 pickup trucks were seen parked on tarmac. Only Gate #2 was manned, as is usual in the off-hours. This equipment was parked on tarmac all weekend:
Inventory 9/5/95. Conducted after last evening flight. 6 jets on tarmac. 3 Kingair planes. Semi truck (cab only) parked in Green section--U.S. Government stenciled plates: 91829.
Inventory 9/6/95. Conducted in middle of work day when all 8-hour "day-trippers" ought to be at work. No jets or Kingairs on tarmac.
Christmas "Recess" 12/95. Although no formal counts were taken, the parking lot appeared only about half full for the four business days between Christmas and New Years Day. This also happened to coincide with the partial Federal government shutdown, which had been going on for several weeks, but I noticed no change in other weeks. Without taking counts, my glance observations suggest that the shut-down had no significant effect on Groom and TTR operations, while many workers had a week-long holiday as a usual perk.
Nighttime Count 1/10/96. An unusually full parking lot at night prompted me to take a count. I have refined the counting procedure to the point where it is now highly accurate at night. Count system is by column, not sector, so no broken up this way on list. Motorcycles are included in count. Six 737s and two T-tails on tarmac. Turns out to be about 60 more cars than usual. During the day, parking lot appears unusually full, with even the most distant parking spaces beginning to fill up. High activity could due to an special project or to the transition to knew contractor Bechtel.
Holidays. Area 51 workers get all the holidays. There are no 737 flights on Martin Luther King Day, Thanksgiving and day after, Memorial Day and Friday before. Beech aircraft may continue to run on these days. During week between Christmas and New Years, 1995, 737s ran, but parking lot was only half full.
January 1996 Things sure seem busy these days. The parking lot is fuller than I have ever seen it. 1/25 nighttime count showed 287 cars, vs 200 on 9/5/95 -- more than a 40% increase.
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Last Modified: 12/3/96 tm.e