Escalators, elevators being installed in Red Express Curbsides building
The interior is being built out for the expansion in the Main Terminal, which will mirror the award-winning Blue Express Curbsides that opened in 2021.
Tampa International Airport’s Red Express Curbsides building is stepping up its construction, with work crews installing the structure’s escalators, staircases and elevators.
The Red Express Curbsides, which will mirror the award-winning Blue Express Curbsides that opened in November 2021, are a three-level concept like the Main Terminal. Departing travelers who are not checking bags and have electronic boarding passes can skip the Ticketing Level on the second floor and head straight to their gate from the third level of the Main Terminal. Arriving passengers will be able to go straight from the third level to the first floor to meet a ride.
The express escalators, staircases, and elevators will allow travelers to go up and down all three floors of the new building. Forklifts installed the frames for the escalators and staircases, and the mechanical components of the three elevators are being assembled in place in the new shafts.
The project is part of Phase 2 of the Airport’s three-phase Master Plan, a blueprint for managing growth at TPA that was conceived in 2012. Other Phase 2 projects that have been completed include the Airport’s new Central Utility Plant and SkyCenter One office complex.
Phase 3 is the construction of the 16-gate Airside D, which broke ground last month and is scheduled to open to the public in 2028. Work has begun in the space where Airside D will be built, to the northwest of the Main Terminal in a spot previously used by aircraft parking at TPA overnight.
That space is currently being cordoned off as a worksite for Airside D, with apron markings being removed and a new temporary service road being built. Fencing around the site will be erected in the coming weeks.
The $109 million project encompassing the Red Express building and its traffic lanes, an expanded walkway to the Airport Marriott and a shuttle station for Airside D, is scheduled to be completed in Summer 2025.
Hensel Phelps and HNTB are the design-build team for both the Red and Blue Express Curbsides, and are also the design-builders for Airside D.
Click on an image below to enlarge or download it:
