RSW $1B Terminal E expansion project approved

The most expensive public infrastructure project in Southwest Florida history received approval Sept. 5 from the Lee County Board of Port Commissioners at a little more than $1 billion.

Terminal E will bring 19 more passenger gates to Southwest Florida International Airport, which is on pace to serve more than 11 million passengers this year and generate an estimated $8.3 billion in economic impact, according to a port authority study.

Suffolk Construction won the bid to manage construction and will be paid just shy of $760 million. The project and price tag also includes additional terminal expansion, chiller plant expansion, airside improvements, terminal roadway modifications and passenger boarding bridges.

Scheduled to break ground Oct. 15, the price of the Terminal E expansion dwarfs the original cost of building the new terminal, which was completed in 2005 for $438 million.

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