TPA's Red Side expansion continues as new structures begin to take shape

It’s out with the old and in with the new on the Red Side of TPA’s Main Terminal, as construction crews are working on several pieces of the Red Express Curbside building and the shuttle station for Airside D.

The demolition of the old 1970s-era Administration Building is almost complete, making room to build a new shear wall that will support the main structure of the shuttle station. The structural steel beams that will frame the station are scheduled for installation beginning in September.

The station will be on the third floor of the Main Terminal and include two tracks for automated people movers to take passengers out to the future 16-gate Airside D terminal. The shuttles, a signature feature of TPA’s hub-and-spoke design, will operate the same as the people movers that go to and from the existing airsides.

Eventually, the infrastructure for the station will serve as an anchor for the expanded third floor of the Main Terminal and the Red Express Curbsides building underneath it.

The Red Express Curbsides will mirror the functionality of the award-winning Blue Express Curbsides that opened in 2022, allowing passengers who have a boarding pass and aren’t checking luggage to bypass the Ticketing Level on the second floor.

And while the Administration Building is gone, the columns that ran through that structure and still support the Short Term Parking Garage remain and will become a part of the expansion.

The columns to the west side and under the hallway to the Marriott  have been reinforced as part of the project, and crews are currently finishing work to upgrade the columns on the northeast side.

Parking spaces blocked on the north side of the Short Term Garage as part of the column strengthening have been opening as work has progressed. The column strengthening is due to be completed in September. However, some other spaces will still be blocked, as demolition of the decommissioned Monorail on Levels 4 and 5 in the Garage is scheduled to continue until mid-2024.

Columns for the new Red Express Departures Bridge also are sprouting from the ground nearby. Workers installed drilled shafts for the foundations of the columns, which will hold up the roadway to the future second-story Departures roadway of the new Red Express Curbsides Building.

Inside the Main Terminal, crews are working to demolish the former shops in the Arcade area of the hallway to the Marriott. That space will be reconfigured and expanded to create new retail space and will incorporate the escalators and stairs for the Red Express Curbsides building.

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. The Hillsborough County Aviation Authority Board of Directors approved funding for the design phase of Airside D at its August meeting.

All of the projects are part of the Airport’s 2022 Master Plan Update, the blueprint the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority is using to manage growth at TPA over the next two decades. Go here to learn more about the plan.

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