Tampa International Airport Outbound Baggage Handling System

Brief Overview

The purpose of this project was to meet the enhanced aviation security requirements that were established by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) after September 11, 2001.  The majority of the work involved integrating the explosive detection system (EDS) machines that provide screening of all passenger baggage, into an automated, inline baggage handling system.  Before this project began, the EDS machines, which are the size of a small minivan, were all located adjacent to the airline ticket counters.  While in these locations, the machines occupied valuable space that would otherwise be used for passenger queuing and circulation, thereby increasing traffic congestion and reducing customer service.  This project eliminated that problem by relocating the EDS machines to the Landside Baggage Makeup Room one level below the ticket counters.  Having the EDS machines at the ticket counters also meant that they had to operate in the manual mode, with all bags being fed into them by hand.  In order to process passenger baggage as efficiently as they had before September 11, 2001, the airlines needed to have the machines operating in the automatic mode.  This project also solved that problem.  The conveyor system designed and built as part of this project now transports bags from the airline ticket counters to the EDS machines and feeds them into the machines automatically.  The completion of this project made Tampa International Airport the first airport in the United States to feature automated, inline EDS screening of all passenger bags.

The new conveyor system also transports cleared bags from the Landside Building to Airside buildings A, C, and F.  Skanska installed the conveyors to Airside E as part of an earlier project.  As a result of this project, a passenger's bag can now be transported from the airline ticket counter, through an EDS machine, and out to the proper Airside building without being touched by human hands.  This is a significant improvement over the previous system, where bags were manually fed into the EDS machines on the ticket level, transported by conveyors to the Landside Baggage Makeup Room, and then loaded on carts and driven out to the proper Airside building.  The completed system handles approximately 25,000 bags on an average day, increasing to nearly 40,000 bags on peak days.

This project included more than 4 miles of new conveyors and 3,000 electric motors and gearboxes, along with motor control panels, bar code scanners, and other components, all connected by a control system and operated by a computer program.  The EDS machines that were relocated to the Landside Baggage Makeup Room are computer-based, and therefore must be located in an air conditioned space.  As a result, masonry walls were built in the Landside Baggage Makeup Room to create enclosed spaces for these machines.  A new chilled water loop was installed between the airport’s Central Energy Plant and the new EDS enclosures to service ten new air handler units.  A new 6000 amp electrical service was installed to feed all of the new equipment installed in the Landside building.

The project included the design and construction of a 50,000 sf Baggage Sortation building for Airside A, a 35,000 sf Baggage Sortation building for Airside F, and a 7,000 sf addition to Airside E.  The sortation buildings serve as the receiving point for the outbound baggage coming from the Landside building.  Since there was no space available for this purpose in the Airside A and Airside F buildings, separate sortation buildings had to be built.  These buildings consist of concrete columns, masonry walls, and a structural steel roof.  The Airside E addition was to expand the baggage sortation area in that building to accommodate baggage for the adjacent Airside D.  The addition consists of structural steel columns and roof framing with masonry walls.  Metal panels were used as the roof finish material and to accent the exterior walls of the sortation buildings and the Airside E addition.  Work on several security checkpoints was also included in this project due to the new TSA requirements.  The canopy at the entrance to the Short Term Parking garage was expanded to accommodate security searches of vehicles prior to entering the garage.  Two other outdoor checkpoints received roadway improvements and enclosures for the personnel staffing them.  Passenger checkpoints at four of the Airside buildings were reconfigured or expanded.