The Phase 3 opening features improved connections and new art installations for Salt Lake City International Airport’s new HOK-designed terminal.
The Salt Lake City Department of Airports has unveiled Phase 3 of The New SLC Redevelopment Program. Phase 3 includes a 1,175-foot-long Central Tunnel connecting the Concourse A and B, a new Concourse B Plaza, 12 new concessions and, initially, five Delta Air Lines’ gates. Four major new art installations embedded within Phase 3 celebrate and recognize Utah’s beauty and natural history.
The Phase 3 programming also includes extended baggage handling systems, level one support space modifications and gate phasing to ensure that hub operations are seamless.
“With the opening of Phase 3 we have reached an extraordinary milestone in The New SLC Redevelopment Program,” said Bill Wyatt, executive director, Salt Lake City Department of Airports. “We have built an airport that is convenient, inspiring, flexible, sustainable and provides our passengers with a first-class experience.”
The HOK team at the SLC Phase 3 Opening Event.
The Phase 3 passenger journey begins with the Central Tunnel, which features a large-scale art installation by Artist Gordon Huether titled “The River Tunnel.” The art piece references the rivers and streams flowing through the state’s mountains and canyons. Travelers get a sense they are traveling within a river as they move between concourses. As part of The River Tunnel installation, Huether curated a playlist related to travel and Utah. The 100-song playlist includes the Beach Boys’ “Salt Lake City,” The Mormon Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square’s “Call of the Champions,” and Marie Osmond’s “In My Own Little Corner of the World.”
“The Central Tunnel connecting Concourses A and B at Salt Lake City International Airport provides quick connections and helps the hub airport flex for future growth,” said Matt Needham, director of Aviation + Transportation at HOK. “With rising passenger traffic at SLC, the new tunnel, immersive art installations and additional programmatic enhancements provide a unique and efficient traveler journey through the airport.”
As passengers exit The River Tunnel, they enter the Concourse B Plaza where they are greeted by Northern Lights, a 3-ton glass and steel sculpture comprised of 500 glass rods and 300 dichroic glass panels. Also located in Concourse B Plaza is the giant world map that once graced the floor of Terminal 1 in the original airport. The terrazzo artwork was dismantled and placed in storage until it was relocated to Concourse B in the summer of 2024.
Gordon Huether’s Northern Lights art installation at Salt Lake City International Airport.
The event also unveiled the “Ally the Dinosaur” installation. Donated to the airport by the Natural History Museum of Utah (NHMU), the replica fossil skeleton of Allosaurus fragilis—Utah’s state fossil—is a quintessential Late Jurassic carnivorous dinosaur. The giant animal roamed Utah’s landscapes 150 million years ago and is now one of the most popular dinosaurs worldwide. NHMU is Utah’s official state museum of natural history and home to the largest Allosaurus collection in the world.
Passengers will also experience a dozen new food, beverage and retail concessions as part of Phase 3. Additional gates for the new airport will open in fall 2025. The entire project will be finished in 2026 with a total of 94 aircraft gates.