A new design concept -- Airside/Landside -- has been advanced by the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority in its plan for the Tampa International Airport passenger terminal. By drawing together heretofore-separated activities of airline passengers on the ground, terminal sprawl is avoided.
Basic elements of the design include the central land-side building, at the hub of a spoked wheel, where the separate activities of processing arriving and departing passengers and their baggage are stacked vertically, along with auto structural parking, in a multistory structure serviced by a series of vertical elevators and escalators.
On the rim of the wheel are the airside satellites devoted directly to loading and offloading of passengers, baggage, and cargo, and the handling and servicing of aircraft. Electrically propelled, automatically controlled, enclosed vehicles will shuttle passengers speedily between the Landside activity center and the aircraft-oriented Airsides. The Passenger Transfer System will be elevated, allowing 360 deg circulation of ground traffic around the central Landside, where all forms of public and private transportation will be accommodated.