July 2017
Automated People Mover Will Expand Footprint of Tampa International Airport
A major expansion of Tampa International Airport is underway through a series of project that will nearly double the airport's capacity. One of the major components of the $971 million reconstruction is the delivery of a new SkyConnect automated people mover (APM). Being constructed by Archer Western, the $415 million project will include a 1.4-mile APM system that will connect passengers from the main terminal building to a new consolidated rental car facility (CONRAC). The APM will greatly expand the footprint of the airport, part of the planned expansion to provide capacity for up to 34 million passengers per year.
A recent article from Engineering News-Record's Scott Judy details the work being performed by Archer Western and the capabilities of the new automated people mover; excerpts below:
.... Roughly 1.4 miles in length, the mostly elevated transportation facility winds out and away from the main terminal building in an S-shaped curve, stopping first at a new economy parking garage before its last stop on the line, the rental car center....
.... From the main terminal, the APM starts at an elevation of about 100 ft, before dipping underneath a roadway overpass and then rising back up to about 80 ft at the two CONRAC stations, says Dan Seeley, senior construction project manager for TIA. Along the way, cars should reach a speed of more than 35 mph, say airport officials....
.... Archer Western used cast-in-place concrete for all foundations and superstructure sections. Standard precast Florida I beams make up the majority of the horizontal girders, with rolled structural steel beams comprising sections located “where we didn’t have much flexibility of where we could put the actual columns and bents,” says Tom Skinner, Project Director for Austin Commercial. Austin Commercial is the design-build contractor for TIA, which hired Archer Western for the APM....
.... The airport’s relatively tight site posed coordination challenges for setting beams for the APM. The project team used near-daily meetings with airport groups to plan the redirection of traffic circulating in and around the main terminal building and the immediately surrounding parking garage, all when the airport was experiencing a near-record number of passengers....
.... “It was a great coordination feat between operations and ourselves,” Skinner says....
Click here to read the full article in ENR - "Tampa Airport Expansion Starts With a Big Stretch"