TAMPA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT—MAIN TERMINAL CURBSIDE EXPANSION & CENTRAL UTILITY PLANT

​In November of last year, APG was awarded the Tampa International Airport (TPA)—Main Terminal Curbside Expansion and Central Utility Plant project by Hensel Phelps Construction Co. At nearly $15 million, this contract includes electrical construction, BIM, audio/visual, voice/data, and security. We are looking forward to a successful and long-term partnership with Hensel Phelps and TPA.

​This project involves the addition of a new vertical circulation building (VCB) on the airport’s blue side to streamline arrivals and departures. The blue side curbsides will get four new lanes for arrivals and four for departures, which will be dedicated to passengers with only carry-on bags. This will make things easier and faster for passengers who don’t need to spend much time at the curb. It also includes the addition of a new central utility plant and electrical service building, allowing for future growth, all with no impact to daily operations and while maintaining the first-class customer service experience that passengers have come to expect at TPA. The airport currently handles 21 million passengers annually, and with these improvements and others, it is expected to increase capacity to 34 million passengers a year.
 
This project presents a number of unique challenges to overcome. Because it is separated into two parts, double the work is required for project billing and direct purchase orders. There are nearly 4,000 feet of enclosed bus duct, which will take hours of investigation and coordination with our BIM team confirming the amperages match and the routings align with existing tie-ins. The new vertical circulation building consists of adding onto the existing electrical services with a new 1200 amp distribution board from the normal branch, a 400 amp from the equipment branch, and a 100 amp from the life safety branch. The new central utility plant and electrical service building portion of the project will have eight separate 4000 amp electrical services and a 1500kW diesel generator.
 
This project is just getting under way (substantial completion is expected by December 2021) but we are very excited about this new opportunity and wanted to share a brief overview. All of us at APG were happy to earn this contract and we greatly appreciate having been selected by Hensel Phelps. We are proud of the hard work of Preconstruction—Special Projects Terry Ryan, Senior Project Manager Ted Maczuga, Project Manager Josh Smith, Project Manager Jack Chonsky, Project Superintendent Chris Gobright, and the entire team on site. Keep up the great work!

---