The design-build team on this $445-million renovation, which broke ground in October 2019 and completed in September 2023, transformed a 35-year-old terminal with an intuitive design that optimizes the flow of passengers. The renovation aligned passenger drop-off and parking, security, a central marketplace hub and the new international arrivals facility. The team developed solutions for maintaining safe, uninterrupted travel to meet the passenger experience expected by the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority.

A new pedestrian bridge connects the central terminal core to the garage plaza, administration building and hotel. Passengers enter a grand open lobby with large skylights, a new centralized TSA checkpoint and large format screens as well as dining, retail and service amenities.

Throughout the projects, crews worked above, below and on either side of the existing facility. The team designed the new airwave roof to be installed over the existing terminal. The new roof is supported by eight columns that were lowered through the existing roof to foundations within the active terminal. The approach provided crews a secure work platform and kept the grand lobby and a marketplace weather-tight through construction. The design also allowed the roof to be used for rigging and demolition of the existing terminal roof.

Despite cost escalations during and after the pandemic, the project remained within budget and opened on schedule.