Phase 3 of construction at Salt Lake City Int’l Airport expected to finish later this year
Apr 3, 2024, 1:07 PM | Updated: 1:38 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — Officials at the Salt Lake City International Airport are calling 2024 a “transformative” year as construction of Phase 3 of the airport is expected to be completed later this year.
Phase 3 includes the Central Tunnel connecting concourses A and B and an art installation called “The River Tunnel” by artist Gordon Huether. The installation of the River Tunnel is now complete, according to officials, allowing for a more exact opening date to be set.
Airport officials said phase 3 is set to open on Oct. 22.
Bill Wyatt, the airport’s executive director, called it the beginning of the end with a finish line now in sight.
“People wanted to be sure that anybody who was coming through the airport knew where they were,” Wyatt said. “They wanted the airport to reflect this place.”
To put the size into perspective, the tunnel is about three football fields long and big enough to hold water for 25 Olympic-sized pools.
The River Tunnel’s inspiration was designed to go with the flow as if a passenger were walking on the floor of the river with light and natural currents up above.
“What we’re trying to do, and I think we’re doing it, is rather than waking up in the morning and not looking forward to a stressful day, you’re looking forward to going into and out of this airport,” Huether said.
There are six moving walkways to help keep travelers moving.
In addition, it will only take a bag 10 minutes to get from Concourse B to the baggage carousel.
The walk from Concourse B, made quicker with the central tunnel bypassing the need to walk a quarter mile to the middle concourse, is only going to get faster.
“We want the airport to look and feel like Utah,” Wyatt said.
Each time a passenger walks through the tunnel, there will be a range of music playing the artist put together himself. The hope is that passengers will hear something new each time they walk through.
