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Starting April 1st, it will cost more to park at Lambert Airport. As expected, the Airport Authority on Wednesday, moved to raise short term parking rates.

At the Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 garages, the rates will change from $2.50 an hour to $5 for the first two hours or any fraction of that. Parking rates for lots A, B, and D will increase as well, but the rates at lot C will remain the same.

The rate hikes will serve two purposes. They'll raise about $1.5 million in additional revenue each year, and discourage those picking up passengers from using the very busy Terminal 1 and 2 parking lots. Airport officials are promoting the use of the two free cell-phone lots instead.

Expect to pay more to park at Lambert Airport beginning next month. That's the word from the St. Louis Airport Commission which is expected to vote this week to increase the rate to park.

Parking at the airport's two primary garages would go from $2.50 per hour, up to $5 for the first two hours, or any fraction of that time. Under the proposed new rate structure, it would cost $5 to park for 30 minutes, and $10 to park for three hours. The same amount of time under current rates would cost $2.50 and $7.50 respectively.

Rates will also likely go up at three other airport facilities. The increases are expected to generate an additional $1.5 million in revenue.

Airport officials say they're also hoping to free up some space in the two busiest parking facilities by encouraging those picking up arriving passengers to use the cellphone lots instead of terminal parking.