The Salt Lake City Department of Airports will break ground Friday on the 1.8 billion dollar Terminal Redevelopment Program. Construction will continue in phases from now through 2019 with complete build out by 2022. Mike Williams is the program director of the massive project. He says there will be many big changes along the way but the effort is going to be well worth it.
“We’re going to try to make the experience seamless for you so as you arrive to the airport you may see construction because we’ll be building some new parking areas and a new rental car facility, but you’ll be coming in on the same roads that you do today," says Williams. "We may shift that traffic around several times while we’re building, but hopefully our goal is to make it seamless so that you can get to the airport just like you do today.”
Maureen Riley is the airport executive director. She says among the many huge improvements to the facility will be expansion of retail and restaurant space which has been severely limited for a long time.
“It’s about now about half of what we should have to accommodate 20 million passengers year,” says Riley.
She says the plan is to nearly double the amount of retail compared with today. She says the completed concourse will be nearly six blocks long and feature a 3 story plaza area with glass on three sides to feature Salt Lake City’s valley and mountain views.
