More parking available as TPA completes work in Short Term Garage
The Airport has finished decommissioning its 1990s-era monorail system between its main garages, opening Level 5 and creating more than 550 total parking spaces for travelers.
All of Level 5 of Tampa International Airport’s Short Term Parking Garage has reopened to guests, marking the end of a project to decommission and remove the Airport’s 1990s-era monorail system.
The old monorail system that ran between Level 7 of the Long Term Parking Garage and Level 5 of the Short Term Parking Garage operated for more than 20 years, but had seen declines in ridership and was in need of costly repairs and upgrades before it was shut down in 2021.
Work crews removed the old monorail station and tracks from Long Term last year before focusing on Short Term. Removing infrastructure from Short Term required blocking off much of Level 4 and all of Level 5.
The project also including installing moving walkways on Level 4 of the Long Term garage to help move guests more quickly to the Main Terminal. That portion of the project opened last June.
Portions of the Short Term garage also had been blocked off at times in the past couple of years to accommodate work on the current Red Express Curbsides construction on the Main Terminal.
With all those changes completed, both garages together gained more than 550 new parking spaces, helping address demand for more parking at the Airport.
The total cost of the walkway installation and monorail removal project is $30.6 million and is part of the Airport’s Capital Improvement Program.
