The Mitsubishi/Archer Western/Heath & Lineback team was selected for the SkyConnect Automated People Mover (APM) project at Tampa International Airport. This project was part of the Airport Master Plan Phase 1 and connects the Main Terminal with Consolidated Rental Car (CONRAC) Facility on the airport South Property. In late 2011, airport officials began the process of updating the Master Plan for its 3,300-acre campus. Taking into account forecasts for passenger growth, the plan provides an outline of airport improvements and future land use to better serve passengers, airlines and other tenants as well as regional tourism, transportation, and business growth for the next 20 years.
Analysis concluded that the airport’s rental car facilities would reach capacity in 2016. To facilitate continued growth, the master plan included a consolidated rental car facility on the south part of the airport campus, near the airport entrance. This allowed for expansion of rental car operations at the airport while decongesting roadways and includes passenger drop-off and pick-up curbsides as well as reclamation of 1,200 parking spaces in the airport’s long-term parking garage that currently houses rental car operations.
The rental car facility connects to the main terminal by a 1.3-mile automated people mover. The people mover could ultimately extend off the airport campus to a multi-modal center in the West Shore Business District near Interstate 275, providing connectivity to a regional transportation system.
Heath & Lineback Engineers, Inc. (H&L) provided civil and structural design for all necessary hardware (guidance structure, emergency walkways, etc.) to fit out the elevated and at-grade structure ready for APM operations.
Together, the APM and ConRAC eliminate nearly 3 million vehicle trips on airport roads and 1,600 tons of carbon emissions each year.