The final steel beam placed atop the under-construction North Concourse was celebrated Tuesday as another milestone in progress of the the Salt Lake City International Airport expansion.
This so-called “topping off” ceremony was similar to one last May on the new airport’s central terminal.
Construction workers listened to remarks by Salt Lake City Council Chairman Charlie Luke; Patrick Leary, chief of staff to Mayor Jackie Biskupski; Department of Airports Executive Director Bill Wyatt and Brett Okland, president of Okland Construction.
The practice of “topping off” is a Scandinavian religious rite of placing a tree atop a new building to appease the tree-dwelling spirits displaced during construction.
The groundbreaking for the $850 million North Concourse was held in January 2018, and since that time workers have poured approximately 16,190 cubic yards of concrete and erected more than 5,000 tons of structural steel.
Phase 1 of the project will include 20 gates in a 465,775-square-foot building. The second phase will include 10 gates in a 364,479-square-foot building with the ability to build an additional 15 gates.
