$69M federal grant will start Orlando airport Terminal C improvements
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Big projects mothballed by the pandemic at Orlando airport’s south terminal complex are getting a $69 million kickstart from federal infrastructure funding, U.S. Rep. Darren Soto announced Monday in a ceremonial gathering.
Of that grant, $49 million will go toward a $400 million restart of four gates at Terminal C, which will be large enough to handle eight domestic jetliners or four of the bigger aircraft used for service to Europe. That work will start soon and is slated to last nearly three years.
“This is our new jobs and infrastructure act making a difference right here in Central Florida,” Soto said, while flanked by various airport and construction workers and union leaders.
Terminal C is a mile south of the airport’s original north terminal complex, which houses the A and B terminals.
The remaining $20 million will be applied toward restarting the elevated pedestrian bridge between the train station adjoining Terminal C and the terminal. Once pegged as a $125 million project, some redesign and inflation are expected to increase the cost.
Work on the bridge is expected to start within a few months and could take as long as 18 months.
One tenant of the train station, Brightline Trains Florida, plans to start service to South Florida later this year. Construction on the station’s interior decor is reaching final stages and the intercity rail company is testing its tracks and trains across east Orange County, reaching speeds of 130 mph.
Until the pedestrian bridge is finished, Brightline’s passengers walking between Terminal C and the train station will have to detour through the parking garage of the south terminal complex.
Kevin Thibault, chief executive officer of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, said the 400-foot-long pedestrian bridge will be equipped with moving sidewalks, as will the hallway leading from Terminal C’s central plaza to the four gates.
One of the emerging complaints about Terminal C, which cost more than $3 billion and opened last year, concerned the distances that passengers have to walk without assistance from moving sidewalks.
Another concern popped up this weekend, when part of a high-tech luggage system had a power outage, leaving many passengers temporarily unable to retrieve their bags.
With passenger volumes recovering rapidly after the pandemic, the airport authority knew that it would have to restart the four gates and pedestrian bridge.
Airport authority Kathleen Sharman said without federal help, the more than half-billion dollars in costs for the two projects would have been borrowed.
The airport’s revenues are from a wide range of sources, including fees from airlines, rental car companies, restaurants, retail stores and parking. The ultimate source of revenue, however, is passengers.
Sharman said the $69 million in federal grant money will ease the airport debt burden and enable the authority to pursue other construction or renovation projects, including in the aging north terminal complex.
Orlando’s airport received $50 million in federal infrastructure funding last year and took in $383 million in federal pandemic relief funding.
