Quick update: This article was written in 2023. Want to read more about the new PDX?
You know what that last stretch before a deadline is like: You check and recheck your to-do list, crossing off completed tasks. With each item you draw a line through, the finish point gets a little closer. For us at PDX, August 2024 is one of those big deadlines: It's the month when you'll finally be able to walk into the new main terminal and see what we've been building.
Of course, August 2024 doesn't mean the end of the construction or the detours—we'll remove the last temporary walls by the end of 2026. However, we're well on our way to filling PDX with even more Pacific Northwest design, food, shops, and art.
Here are the seven biggest tasks on our to-do list:
The main terminal’s western windows will let you look out over the airfield.
Task 1: Install the Exterior Windows
Timeframe: Now through November 2023
With the terminal roof in place, we have been wrapping the exterior in floor-to-ceiling windows, moving from the north end of the building to the south. Once we hang the last window pane, we'll be able to seal off the building to control the climate inside. Keep an eye out for great views!
Task 2: Peel away the old ceiling
Timeframe: Now through December 2023
This summer and fall, we're removing a 30-foot-wide stretch of ceiling over the ticketing lobby to expose the new roof above it. You may encounter extra scaffolding and noise this summer, and you'll want to pay attention to lobby signs that guide you to your airline’s ticket counter. That said, if you have a few extra minutes before your flight, head to the north end of the ticket lobby and look up—you’ll get a sneak peek at the terminal's new wood-lattice ceiling.
Terrazzo and Oregon white oak will cover high-traffic areas at PDX.
Task 3: Install new floors
Timeframe: Winter 2023 through Spring 2024
Now that we've poured concrete for the building's three floors, we can make them beautiful. This summer, we'll start installing terrazzo. Then, once the building's exterior walls are sealed, we'll lay down white oak flooring (from the Eola Hills in the Willamette Valley) in some spots and Portland's best loved carpet in others.
Task 4: Plant trees
Timeframe: Spring and Summer 2024
If you've taken our virtual tour of the new main terminal, you've noticed the western half of the building is filled with tall, leafy trees. They’ve been growing in a climate-controlled location for the past few years, and this winter they'll move indoors. Our goal: to make you feel like you've brought the Pacific Northwest forest into the terminal with you.
Oven & Shaker, KURE Superfoods, Columbia Sportswear, and four other local shops will open in the south market hall.
Task 5: Build new shops and restaurants
Timeframe: January through the end of 2024
This spring, we announced the 20 new shops and restaurants that will open in the new main terminal over the next two years. Early next year, the first group of businesses will receive the keys to PDX so they can build out their spaces. Later in 2024 you'll start seeing—and tasting—the results of their efforts.
Task 6: Improve the security flow
Timeframe: Winter 2023 through Summer 2024
We're proud of how smoothly PDX's security checks run, but we've been plotting ways to make them even more stress-free. The new security checkpoints we’re building will have more screening lanes, monitors showing wait times, and other technology to speed visitors through.
Task 7: Install new art
Timeframe: Spring 2024
The new terminal isn't just going to surround visitors with greenery and windows. Working with the Regional Arts and Culture Council, PDX is creating space for up to twenty permanent art installations, four of which will debut in May 2024. We're thrilled we can announce two of the artists creating work for the airport: Portland’s amazing Yoonhee Choi and the nationally renowned Sanford Biggers.
Want to track our progress as we check all these improvements off our to-do list? Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for photos and updates, and sign up for our (spam-free) email newsletter.
Tom Strong - Chief Executive Officer, Skokomish Indian Tribe, Skokomish Washington
"We're foresters in that we're stewards," says Tom Strong, Chief Executive Officer of the Skokomish Indian Tribe, which manages 2,000 acres of Washington forests for its 800 tribal members. "We're not cutting and planting, seeking to develop our lands into a commodity. Instead, we're doing it to restore the forest."
Over the past 100 years, the two dams on the North Fork Skokomish River have had a major impact on the entire ecosystem of Skokomish land. "We want to restore the entire Hood Canal watershed," Tom says. The forests are just one part.
Selling wood from Douglas fir trees the tribe selectively thinned will help fund this restoration. "We don't have an endless amount of money," Tom says. "But we would like to think we've got an endless amount of time."
Ben Hayes - Co-owner, Hyla Woods, Cherry Grove, Oregon
Ben Hayes is a sixth-generation forester who manages Hyla Woods, outside Cherry Grove, Oregon, with his father, Peter. He is also a sustainable-forestry consultant. At Hyla Woods, the Hayes experiment with selective thinning and patch cutting, instead of clear-cutting, to foster diversity of tree species, ages, and sizes.
"When you look 100 years out, having greater complexity in terms of species and the structure of the forest, you can increase the forest's resilience in the face of extreme weather and drought," he says.
"We're working toward a model of forestry that you could practice for the perpetual future,” Ben says. “It's a model that lifts up both rural and urban communities and the ecosystems we rely on."
Richard and Ann Hanschu - Owners, Doneen, Forest Grove, Oregon
Ann Hanschu's father first bought land outside Forest Grove, Oregon, in 1956. Ann grew up trailing her father around the forest, learning from him. The Hanschus now have three children, four grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
Richard says, "We're planting trees that our grandchildren will see the profits from — not even our children. It's long-range thinking."
"A lot of the timber is older,” Ann adds. “We're laddering it with trees of different age groups — some 30-40 years old, some 10-20 years old — so the land can continue to produce a sustainable amount of wood."
Herman Flamenco - Central Cascades Conservation Forester, The Nature Conservancy, Cle Elum, Washington
"We know historically that the stands we're working on were overstocked," says Herman Flamenco, Central Cascades conservation forester for the Nature Conservancy, of the 50,000 acres outside Cle Elum, Washington, the organization manages. Thinning the trees welcomes in light and biodiversity.
Some loggers in the region worry that this low-impact approach to forestry yields less lumber, and less profit, than clear-cutting. One local outfit took on this labor-intensive challenge, selectively harvesting Doug fir trees from steep slopes.
"Western Washington is wetter. In our dry climate, there's less moisture and increased fire risk," Herman says. "As we look at climate change, it's just going to get dryer. We want to make sure we can keep our forests around."
In the 1950s, back when people wore fancy hats to the airport, PDX’s main terminal had brown terrazzo floors.
By the 1970s, blue carpet sporting the old Port of Portland logo replaced the terrazzo. The airport was so concerned about keeping the carpet clean that we banned gum-chewing indoors.
In the 1980s, PDX replaced the ski-chalet paneling in the Clocktower Plaza with high ceilings and skylights, but kept the blue carpet.
SRG Partnership, a Portland-based architecture firm, designed the pattern for the now-iconic carpet on the layout of the airport runways.
The Clocktower Plaza, post-1988, with the iconic carpet.
The Clocktower Plaza (before its demolition in 2021-22) with the new carpet.
The flexible interior spaces were designed with the future of travel in mind — and to give you plenty of comfortable spots to recharge before your next flight.
Two permanent installations from acclaimed contemporary artist Jacob Hashimoto hang like clouds above the concourse’s common areas.
Shops and restaurants are clustered together like city blocks, with a pedestrian-friendly scale and lots of room to spread out.
PDX’s swanky new bar, Juliett, honors women in aviation with mid-20th-century style, top-class cocktails, and local wines and beers.
Sky-high windows fill the interior with daylight while maximizing the concourse extension’s energy efficiency.
At the east end of the concourse, a wall of windows opens up this epic view of Mt. Hood, where you’ll definitely want to pose for a photo before takeoff.
The Concourse E extension project is the dedicated home for Southwest Airlines at PDX, with six new gates.
Remember the view of Mt. Hood on Concourse E? It’s coming back, brighter than ever.
Tillamook’s menu includes the best of the classics with fried cheese curds and a signature grilled cheese.
Calliope takes its name from one of Oregon’s native hummingbirds and showcases creative and playful keepsakes.
Grab your favorite book, magazine or newspaper at Your Northwest Travel Mart.
Concourse B's 38-foot-high ceilings and 6,900 square feet of windows don't just let light in. They let you watch the airport in action. "I think this airport gave us a chance to celebrate the romance of flight," says Gene Sandoval of ZGF, the architecture firm that designed the new concourse.
ZGF Architects was inspired to bring the Pacific Northwest’s natural world indoors. You can contemplate the plants hanging from the ceiling and the Oregon white-oak walls as you relax in B’s comfy new seats. (Bonus: More power adapters!)
RYAN! Feddersen’s art installation, which fills the concourse, is made up of three interconnected pieces. The “Sentinel” landscapes and abstract “Habitat Tiles” are pictured here.
RYAN! is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. She draws inspiration from the region’s traditions and landscape for these pieces, which include the gently rolling “Cloud Walk” overhead.
Nicole and David Mouton, in partnership with HMSHost, opened an outpost of Portland’s beloved Screen Door Restaurant on Concourse B. Find Screen Door’s legendary fried chicken and waffles here from breakfast until dinnertime.
Sam and Nick Purvis, the brothers behind Good Coffee, source fresh coffee beans and teas from all over the world. Pick up a pastry or a bag of beans, too!
Our new rental car center opened in November 2021.
All rental car brands are now on-site at PDX – no more shuttles to pick up your car.
Perez Westbrooks' colorful digital mural celebrates Northwest flora.
Ben Butler's swirling wood sculpture is made from reclaimed Douglas fir.
The new facility also adds 30 ADA parking spots, more than 30 electric vehicle charging stations, and 2,200 long-term parking spaces to the airport.
Adding more lanes to our new, relocated exit toll plaza helps you leave PDX more quickly.
Every design decision we make is about keeping the heart and soul of PDX intact. You’ll see homages to all the things you love about our city and region in the new airport designs.
You’ll notice subtle nods to the Pacific Northwest landscape throughout the space. Natural light, living trees, and native Oregon foliage may give you the feeling of walking through a park.
The new terminal’s wooden ceiling, made from sustainably grown, local Doug fir, might remind you of daylight filtering through forest canopies.
This will be your new view when entering the spacious ticket lobby at PDX. The nine-acre wood roof is so distinctive you’ll be able to spot it from the air.
The ripples and currents of pristine Northwest rivers inspired the new terminal’s curvy profile.
Expanding the heart of PDX creates more space for our beloved local shops and restaurants — not to mention local humans (and visitors, too).