Tampa International Airport (TIA)

[TampaMike]

Since TIA is already moving forward building the new terminal, I think it is needed to start a thread for the massive project. Many things will come out of the project and many will follow. With the new terminal being built, there is also plans for another parking garage and TIA has also said that they might be the first to have light rail in Tampa. Also don't forget about the conjunction leading into TIA.

[cwat212]

Is this even close to a start date? A decade off from what I have read....

[TampaMike]

Originally Posted by cwat212

Is this even close to a start date? A decade off from what I have read....

Maybe my dad was absolutely clueless when he said that they were tearing down the building to make way for the new terminal. But none the less, TIA needs a thread

[John F]

"Tearing down the building"? What building?

Airside D? Or is their property north of the main terminal being torn down (which is where the 2nd terminal will be)?

[matttampa]

Airside D is being torn down right now. The area used by Airside D will than be turned into an aircraft overnight parking area. Possibly a new ATCT when they get construction rolling on the new terminal. They hope to have the new north terminal open around 2010-2012. The current terminal is limited to 20 million pax. They are trying to increase it to 25 currently. TIA is probably going to push 19.2-19.5 million this year is my guess. Construction should begin in the next year or 2 on the North Terminal if they get close to 20mil pax or over it, so that they will have the new Terminal Open when they hit 25 million.

Originally Posted by John F

"Tearing down the building"? What building?

Airside D? Or is their property north of the main terminal being torn down (which is where the 2nd terminal will be)?

[FlaNatv]

Pics of the monorail from longterm parking to the terminal building.

[HARTride 2012]

I actually emailed the airport authority a month ago on that exact same issue (Terminal 2). A PIO told me in response that the Airside D site will become the new control tower when the second terminal is built. An 8-10 gate replacement for Airside D may be built if capacity on the new terminal surpasses (but I don't think it will be needed until 2025 or so). There will also be a third runway flanking the Veterans Expressway and existing runway 36L/18R, a fourteen-gate airside connecting the new main terminal, a rooftop parking garage (like the exisitng main terminal), and a customs facility (which I assume will be in the new airside). The PIO also told me that the scheduled opening date for the second terminal will be in around October 2015, which I must say is an ambitious goal (that they can pull off).

[HARTride 2012]

I just took a trip to TIA today and boy do the access roads look like a total mess. I certainly can't wait until those new (huge, tall) overpasses open to traffic. That will relieve alot of congestion.

[John F]

Yeah, the roads are indeed a mess. The entire area (from Eisenhower/Veterans Expressway to the Airport) is a mess. While those super-flyover spans look impressive, look what they are building for the Vet near the Courtney Campbell Parkway. It's like a giantic flyover that's 10 stories tall...

Impressive to watch go up but an absolute nightmare to drive around.

Meanwhile, I would think everyone here knows the metal structure above the road is lighting for the runways...

[HARTride 2012]

Originally Posted by John F

Yeah, the roads are indeed a mess. The entire area (from Eisenhower/Veterans Expressway to the Airport) is a mess. While those super-flyover spans look impressive, look what they are building for the Vet near the Courtney Campbell Parkway. It's like a giantic flyover that's 10 stories tall...

Impressive to watch go up but an absolute nightmare to drive around.

Meanwhile, I would think everyone here knows the metal structure above the road is lighting for the runways...

A lot of these flyovers are modeled after the tall flyover @ Malfunction Junction (the ramp that goes from I-275 SB to I-4) but they sure are a sight. They remind me of the super-tall stack interchanges in Texas.

[smiley]

They will be tall - they have to squeeze them in between the runways because of height limits near the end of a runway so they will be stacked and interesting. What you guys forgot is the 17 lane wide section near the airport. That is going to be crazy

[HARTride 2012]

Yeah, from what I understand, there will be at least five lanes in each direction on the mainline plus two northbound express lanes. There are supposed to be two southbound express lanes but they won't be built until I-275 between downtown and WestShore is widened.

[LuvHighrisers]

http://www.mytbi.com/projects/projec...D=72&RoadID=11

has all the answers

[TampaMike]

Driving through that area is a headache, espicially when they have those speed traps, I have almost been caught numerous times driving through that area. But when all of it is done, I think it will be very beneficial.

[tampamobster21]

Today when I came home from the airport and it was not that bad. I thought that it actually went smoother than usual. I also left the airport at like 1:00p.m.

[I-275westcoastfl]

Driving through there aint bad only time i ever got caught up in a little traffic was on the light getting off of the Courtney Campbell and about to enter the highway to the airport, besides that pretty quick.

[FloridaFuture]

Critics put TIA outside elite class
By Steve Huettel
Published June 13, 2007

Would you bristle if a guest groused that his steak at Bern's was too chewy? How about the cousin from Ohio who calls Fort De Soto State Park an "okay" beach?

It's natural to get defensive when someone takes a shot at a local icon. Last month, J.D. Power and Associates fired a cannon at one of the area's few world-class institutions: Tampa International Airport.

The company's 2007 customer satisfaction survey ranked Tampa International No. 14 among medium-sized airports with a score that was - gasp! - below average.

Remember, this place won so many accolades that officials handed out bumper stickers proclaiming "LUV TIA: World's Finest Airport!"

Most locals rallied to TIA's defense, scoffing that something's goofy when passengers prefer airports in congested New York (dirty and surly) Philadelphia and (overcrowded) Atlanta.

But the news also brought out a few critics spouting heresy: Tampa International isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Here are the stories of a couple travelers, both fans of the airport, whose recent experiences left them angry and disappointed.

John Harlowe and his wife returned home from a Pacific cruise near midnight May 17, collected six pieces of luggage and walked outside to catch a cab home.

They didn't know airport officials had banned taxis from the drive outside baggage claim to keep the curb open for drivers picking up passengers.

Harlowe, a 65-year-old retiree from Tampa with arthritis in his ankles and feet, couldn't find a skycap or luggage cart. He left the bags and walked to a cab stand at the end of the building.

The driver at first said he couldn't pull his cab to the curb without facing suspension from the airport. He finally relented, yelling to a traffic officer that his elderly customers couldn't lug the bags themselves.

Airport taxi drivers insist passengers routinely complain about hiking to the new cab stand locations.

Louis Miller, the airport's executive director, says he's heard few objections. Traffic would come to a standstill at peak times if taxis still picked up passengers at the curbs, he says.

On March 1, Justine Allen's flight from Boston - and several others from various locations - landed late as bad weather snarled traffic along the East Coast. But the real backup came when she reached her car in the long-term parking garage, drove to the ramp and waited. And waited. And waited some more.

The problem: Crews closed the outbound airport parkway to install bridge girders for a state construction project.

Police diverted traffic onto back streets of Tampa International but didn't expect heavy traffic after midnight. It took Allen three hours to get out of the airport.

"There were hundreds and hundreds of cars trying to get through the toll booths, " she says.

"Tampa airport is (usually) the easiest to get through. But this time, they could have done better."

And they're trying, says airport operations director Robert Burr, who calls that night "the disaster."

Airport officials now monitor inbound flights on evenings when construction crews plan to close the parkway. A half-dozen times, Burr says, they've called off construction when problems delayed arriving planes until after midnight.

As any good business knows, bad things happen. And customers generally don't hold a grudge for an occasional slip when you work hard to recover.

I like my chances at Tampa International better than New York, Philadelphia or Atlanta. Any day.

Steve Huettel can be reached at huettel@sptimes or (813) 226-3384.

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/06/13/Bu...IA_outsi.shtml

[JBrisco]

That interchange looks like the stuff you see in L.A now.

[HARTride 2012]

I'm not the least bit surprised by that article. Every airport, no matter what the critics rave (or rant), has it's share of problems. Security backups and hassles, missing baggage, delayed flights, poor interterminal transfer, you get the picture. TPA Airport may be great at having excellent interterminal transfer and be ranked among the world's top airports, but it is no exception to the many inconvienences that many airports see each day. TPA still has lots to work on if it wants to keep its reputation positive. And keeping that positive reputation is more crucial than ever since planning of Terminal 2 began. Of course keeping a positive reputation is crucial for any transportation facility regardless of size or location, or any other criteria for that matter. I remember comming to TPA Airport during the early 90s, when the Landside Terminal still boasted a lot of it's outdated appearance. I mean, the carpeting was okay and modern for that time, and the upkeep was decent, but clearly the building was in need of an update. I also remember how crammed the old airsides were prior to their closing. Though I never visited Airside B before it shuttered, I have been to the old C, D, and E. And all three buildings were small, yet functional, yet very crowded at times. I hated going down the escalators in C and D just to reach the gate, especially if it was during peak travel times. Today, TPA Airport has seen a major revitalization of it's terminal complex with newer airsides and other upgraded facilities. One major thing I will point out that TIA still needs improvement on is the Baggage Claim area. I know there has been talk about a major overhaul. But I still have no clue as to when it will begin. The baggage carousels are ancient (they've been in the airport since 1971), the areas are very crammed (even without the rental car counters), and the internal conveyor and sorting systems are in desperate need of replacement.

[HARTride 2012]

Parking fees rising at Tampa airport
Bay News 9
Friday, June 15, 2007



Parking is the number one revenue generator at Tampa International Airport so it may come as no surprise that for the first time in two years, parking rates went up Friday.

It now costs $1 more for some parking services, $2 more for others.

Airport officials said the increase comes as more funds are needed for new construction projects, most notably another parking garage.

"It's only because of the demand for our parking spaces that we're having to do this to assist with keeping the garages,'' said TIA spokesperson Brenda Geoghagan. "A lot of them are aging. We have to keep them cleaned. There's a lot that goes into providing just one parking space that people don't think about."

The new rates break down like this: Both the valet and long-term garage parking will cost $1 more - $25 per day for valet and $15 per day for long term. The short-term and economy garages both went up $2. Those charges are now $9 per day for economy parking and $20 for short term.

"We can't make it so inexpensive to park in our short-term garage on top of our main terminal because then everybody goes there,'' said Geoghagan, who added that the 20,000 parking spaces at TIA aren't enough. "And we have no parking for those people who are only coming in to pick up somebody and leave.''

The news isn't all bad.

The first hour of parking in the short-term or long-term garage is still free and TIA's rates are still among the cheapest in the state.

Parking at Miami or Fort Lauderdale's airports cost $30 and $36, respectively. Orlando ($17) and Jacksonville ($16) have lower rates than Tampa.

http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2...+Tampa+airport