Anticipating heavier turnouts for University of Hawai'i football games this year, Aloha Stadium announced it has secured Ford Island as an additional satellite parking site for popular games.

The Navy facility will add up to 1,000 parking spaces and be used for events where attendance is expected to exceed 30,000, said Scott Chan, Aloha Stadium manager.

Limited parking and heavy traffic congestion have been frequently cited as complaints by fans who have either chosen not to attend or selectively attend UH games in recent years.

Chan said Ford Island will join Radford High, Leeward Community College and Kamehameha Drive-In as satellite lots to the stadium, which was built to accommodate 8,000 vehicles.

Previously, Ford Island had just been used for overflow Pro Bowl parking, Chan said. He said UH will help underwrite the costs, which could reach $6,000.

In addition, Chan said the lower Halawa lot will open at 1:30, an hour earlier than in the past. Previously, cars parking in the Halawa lot were required to have two or more occupants to gain entrance. "But what we want to do is just get more vehicles off the road to ease the rest of the traffic," Chan said.

Other lots will open at 2:30 p.m. UH opens a seven-game home season Sept. 1 with Northern Colorado.

As an incentive to get fans to use satellite lots, Chan said the stadium and UH will open up access to a special tailgate section in the stadium lot as well as provide shuttle service. Within the special tailgate area fans can watch other games on TVs, partake of live entertainment and purchase food at reasonable prices.

In addition, Chan said inside the stadium plans are to provide a "sports bar-type atmosphere" near the spirals where televisions and other amenities will be provided.

The efforts have been welcomed by UH.

"We really applaud everything they have done so far and we know they have some other things that haven't been announced yet that are going to be viewed as positives by the fans," said John McNamara, UH associate athletic director.