

SLC is the fifth-biggest hub for Delta Air Lines, accounting for approximately 70% of the airport’s operations. “The River Tunnel,” as Huether calls it, is designed to give passengers the experience of walking at the bottom of a flowing river, with specialized lighting, custom terrazzo flooring and piped-in nature sounds or music curated just for the tunnel.Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) served over 26.8 million passengers in 2019, with around 370 daily commercial departures. When complete, the tunnel will feature a new art installation by Gordon Huether, the same artist who created “The Canyon” installation on the walls of the plaza after the security checkpoint. When the new airport took off, crews removed it from the old terminal and stashed it for safekeeping. The map, a favorite fixture in the former airport, delighted travelers for decades. Before it can open to passengers, crews will need to build a new entryway on concourse B that will display the terrazzo world map from the old airport.

Workers began pouring concrete in the nearly 1,200-foot tunnel at the beginning of July 2021. The new tunnel will trim the walk from security to concourse B by more than 1,000 feet.Įscalators to the roughly $80 million Central Tunnel will be accessible in the plaza passengers enter immediately after passing through security. In some cases, the walk to a gate can stretch more than a half-mile and take more than 20 minutes. The journey to the B gates has been a major source of criticism for the airport since its 2020 debut and the butt of many jokes. (Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) A man walks in front of the closed escalator that will carry Salt Lake City International Airport travelers to a new Central Tunnel on Tuesday, Aug.
