TAMPA, Fla. — While there’s a lot of new stuff at the Tampa International Airport, the air traffic control tower is not one of them.
The tower is more than 50 years old, but Congresswoman Kathy Castor just announced a major step toward replacing the aging tower thanks to a late addition from President Joe Biden’s budget following his recent visit to Tampa.
“Put a pin in this milestone,” Castor said standing at TPA with the control tower looming behind her.
During Biden‘s recent trip to Tampa, Castor, who's a Democrat and represents District 14, says she hitched a ride aboard Air Force One and used the opportunity to present the president with a ton of background material showing why replacing TPA's aging air traffic control tower is long overdue.
“It truly has reached the end of its useful life. It’s outdated," Castor said. “And for 10 years, it has been apparent to me that it is not up to the standard that we would want for our air traffic controllers who are keeping the public, the flying public, safe day in and day out.”
Air traffic controllers say the public is not in danger, but that their working conditions have deteriorated over the years.
The tower has experienced leaky pipes, sewage fumes and even electrical problems that have stranded them in the tower’s elevator.
“We just believe that the controllers need to be in an environment that enables them to focus on their job at hand,” Air Traffic Controller Jen McCoy said. “Unfortunately, with this tower at 50 years old, it’s deteriorated to the point where it’s providing some distractions from time to time.”
The air traffic control tower at TPA is responsible for monitoring the entire Tampa Bay region. That includes several regional airports and the air space around MacDill Air Force Base as well.
Although the airport has been undergoing a multi-phase billion-dollar expansion, the air traffic control tower is not part of that. It’s funded separately by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Even if it survives, the budget and appropriations process would still take several years to construct a new one. But this, they say, is as close as they’ve got to see that finally happen.
“We have been at this since 2011 when I first got here,” TPA CEO Joe Lopano said. “This is the one issue that we really need help on in Washington.”
Castor says by the time they landed, Biden had read through the materials and agreed to direct federal infrastructure dollars to the project.
A spot has already been earmarked on the airport property for the new tower, a step that could speed things up if it makes it through the appropriations process.
“It just cannot wait any longer,” Castor said. “We cannot handle any more bureaucratic back-and-forth.”