Tampa International Airport officials revealed advancement on the $1.5 billion Airside D terminal Thursday. This 16-gate, 600,000-square-foot structure marks the airport’s first new airside terminal in almost 20 years.

Workers erected multiple precast concrete towers. These shafts will house 11 of the terminal’s 15 elevators. Steel girders went up last month, too — they’ll support the automated shuttle guideway linking this terminal to existing airport sections.

“It’s a 16-gate, 600,000-square-foot airside that we’re building, both for international and domestic traffic,” said Dan Seeley, according to Fox 13 News.

The elevators will transport passengers, cargo, and service personnel. Steel beams are rising now, forming the skeleton of what will become the terminal.

Work proceeds at a brisk clip. “As the steel goes up, anywhere where we didn’t place the concrete underneath, the concrete’s going to follow right behind. Right behind that is the masons, right behind that’s the drywall, the mechanical, the electrical, the plumbing,” said Kevin Curry, General Superintendent of Hensel Phelps Construction.

Airside D wraps up the airport’s master plan, which kicked off in 2012. The building will span two floors plus a mezzanine and will serve international and domestic flights alike.

A modern U.S. Customs space is included, designed to accommodate expanding international travel. “We’re going to expand, have more international gates and add a capacity for our future needs,” Seeley said.

The project addresses demands from the Tampa Bay region’s swift expansion. “It’s huge, it’s really putting Tampa on the map, creating a marquee project like this showing that we have the capacity, the demand, the need for this really shows how much Tampa is growing and how we can support it, and we’re going to have first-class, world-class facilities,” Seeley said.

Work continues over the coming years. Teams will transition from structural tasks to interior systems once framing wraps up.

The new terminal positions the airport to handle growth for decades ahead, leaders say.