Salt Lake City International Airport celebrates end of construction

SALT LAKE CITY — Construction of the new Salt Lake City International Airport is finally finished.

The final piece of Concourse B will open in a few days, marking the end of a 12-year project. City, airport and community leaders gathered Saturday to celebrate.

"I couldn't be more proud of this incredible accomplishment," said Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall.

The project first broke ground in July 2014, and it evolved over the years.

"After millions of hours of work – after opening a brand new airport in the middle of a global pandemic and then continuing to build around millions of passengers every single year – we are here at the finish line," Mendenhall said.

The final piece of the airport has 132,000 square feet, new restaurants and concessions including Swig and Moochie's Cheesesteaks, and seven new gates. Most of the new gates will be used by United Airlines.

The project cost $5.1 billion. Airport and city leaders noted that amount was funded by things like federal grants and user fees, not local tax dollars.

"Now we can get on to just the regular work of running the airport, recruiting new carriers where we can, and the capital projects that we've put off while we completed this," said Bill Wyatt, the airport's executive director.

During Saturday's celebration, the airport also unveiled a new art installation in the concourse known as "Crossroads to the World," made of many laser-cut acrylic airplanes. Musician Kurt Bestor composed a song to mark the end of construction, which was performed during the event.

It is a long walk to the last piece of Concourse B, which some travelers have complained about over the years. But officials said it's an important step toward getting ready for travelers to the Salt Lake Temple open house next year – and the Winter Olympics in 2034.

"Thank for your patience and for trusting us with your travel," Mendenhall said. "A project like this ends only once, but starting next week, this place simply gets to be what we've been building it to be – our gateway to the world, our gateway to one another."

The airport plans to hold a ribbon cutting Tuesday morning to officially open the last part of Concourse B to travelers.

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