The Sacramento International Airport APM

The Sacramento International Airport (SMF) APM is a dual lane shuttle that will connect the new landside Central Terminal B and airside Concourse buildings. Planning started in August 2003 and preliminary design of the system and the buildings in October 2006. The procurement process started with an RFI (interest and information). An RFQ sent to six potential suppliers resulted in a short list of four firms and technologies. The APM contractor was selected in June 2008. The terminal and APM are scheduled to open in early 2012. This paper describes the system and discusses why an APM was essential to the terminal concept and construction process. It also provides insight into the procurement process and results, including the effect of local requirements for terms and conditions and typical construction processes. It looks at the implications of a very constrained project site and the resulting challenging system configuration. It discusses system expansion, both for the capacity of the initial dual lane shuttle and the possible addition of two similar systems in the future. Finally, it uses this project to discuss some of the challenges foreign companies have in competing in the US APM market and providing innovative APM technologies.