Work is underway on the construction of new arrival and departure lanes at Florida’s Tampa International as part of the next phase of the airport’s expansion program.
To begin construction of the forthcoming Red Express Curbsides and the airport’s new Airside D shuttle station, crews will block off portions of the walkway to the Airport Marriott hotel to begin major expansion work.
The hotel is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and recently underwent a multi-million-dollar renovation of its meeting and event space. In addition to connecting the third floor of the main terminal to the Marriott, the walkway to the hotel served as a gallery space for scale models that illustrated the airport’s potential expansion plans. Those models, which were more than 10 years old, have been removed for cleaning and updating and will return to a different area of the airport in the coming weeks.
Temporary walls blocking off portions of the walkway to the hotel have been erected and are scheduled to remain in place on the Red Side until at least 2025. The areas blocked off by the barriers will change at times, and the hallway to the Marriot will eventually expand as phases of the work are completed.
Dan Seeley, senior manager of construction at Hillsborough County Aviation Authority (HCAA), said, “Although the airport began updating the Red Side of the main terminal last year, the biggest and best changes will be happening behind the scenes for now. There are a lot of steps involved in this expansion, but most of our travelers likely won’t even notice the work being done until the improvements are ready for prime time.”
Demolition of the old 1970s-era administration building will continue in the area below the walkway to make room for the new Red Express Curbsides, which will mirror the award-winning Blue Express Curbsides that opened in 2021.
Even bigger changes will eventually happen on the north side of the walkway, behind the Yeager Elevators.
The main terminal expansion will include the Airside D shuttle station, which will include two tracks for automated people movers to take passengers out to the future airside terminal. The shuttles, a signature feature of TPA’s main terminal/airside design, will operate in the same way as the people movers that go to and from the existing airsides.
The Red Express Curbsides and main terminal expansion are expected to be finished in summer 2025. The new Airside D is scheduled to open in early 2028.
All the projects are part of the airport’s 2022 Master Plan Update, the blueprint the HCAA is using to manage growth at TPA over the next two decades.
