Planning an APM for San Francisco International Airport

A $2.4 billion Master Plan Development Program is underway at the San Francisco International Airport. One of the key projects is the Airport Rail Transit (ART) System, which will link several highly used activity centers with automated guideway transit technology. The ART, budgeted at $420 million for procurement and construction, will provide a high level of service to airline passengers, employees, and other airport users while helping to enhance landside operational efficiency. The project is being implemented through a design-build procurement of the operating system and a series of fixed facility construction contracts. The ART is expected to begin transporting the public in May 2001. This paper provides insights into some of the interesting planning considerations associated with the development of the ART. It is believed that these considerations are generally applicable to adding landside automated people movers to existing commercial airports and, therefore, will be useful to a broad range of readers.