Since the Utah Inland Port Authority acquired the 770-acre former North Temple Landfill—now Crossroads Port—work under the Utah Department of Environmental Quality’s Airport West Voluntary Cleanup Program has continued in coordination with UDEQ, Nin-Management, and Salt Lake City.
Phase 1 remediation, covering approximately 175 acres in the southeastern portion of the site, is now substantially complete. Crews have excavated approximately one million cubic yards of waste from historic landfill cells and placed that material in the project’s engineered on-site repository, which continues to receive consolidated waste. More than one million gallons of leachate drawn from those cells have been evaporated using Wind-Aided Intensified eVaporation (WAIV) technology.
The change on the ground is visible. In July 2025, shortly after major earthwork began, the Phase 1 area still read as undeveloped landfill ground yet strategically located adjacent to Interstate 80, the intermodal rail corridor, and proximate to Salt Lake City International Airport. By May 2026, that same Phase 1 area had been excavated, backfilled, and graded.
Waste excavation (and haul-to-repository) operations have followed the methods in the approved Phase 1 Remedial Action Plan approved by UDEQ: cover soils are removed, leachate is collected,waste is excavated from the cells and loaded into haul trucks for transport and placement in the on-site repository. Independent environmental testing continues as an integral part of the environmental cleanup with UDEQ remaining as an active participant in the work effort.
Leachate management is being adjusted as the project moves west. A second WAIV unit has been ordered. Because the current evaporator sits in the path of the next work area, a new leachate treatment complex is being prepared for the new unit. Once the new unit is operating, the existing unit will be disassembled and relocated to the new leachate treatment complex providing the additional capacity for the future work efforts.
Under the Airport West VCP, UIPA is advancing a Phase 1 Expansion of approximately 112 acres immediately west of the existing repository. Waste in this area of the landfill was originally deposited between 1963 and 1973, similar to the initial Phase I area. In June 2026, UDEQ’s Division of Environmental Response and Remediation approved the remedial action plan for the Phase I Expansion Area allowing for waste excavation efforts to begin within the expansion area.
Crossroads Port’s proximity to Interstate 80, Salt Lake City International Airport, and a rail-served corridor highlights the underlying value of this property. The cleanup is intended to return a long-idle brownfield to a condition consistent with future commercial and industrial use under the VCP.
In August, UIPA was invited to brief the Westside Coalition on developments at Crossroads Port. UIPA appreciated the time with the committee and hopes to host a site tour so members can see the progress firsthand.
“Phase 1 at Crossroads Port is substantially complete because the work was done in close coordination with UDEQ, Nin-Management, and Salt Lake City,” said Ben Hart, UIPA executive director. “About a million cubic yards of waste are now in the on-site repository, more than a million gallons of leachate have been evaporated, and the ground that sat idle for decades is graded and moving into the next stage of cleanup.”
Author: Sebastian Abril
Date: August 29, 2026