Here’s when that long walk at SLC airport will get shorter, and what you’ll see when you take it

A shorter, prettier walk to the B gates isn’t far off at Salt Lake City International Airport.

When the Central Tunnel opens Oct. 22, travelers who have to trek to concourse B will trim a quarter-mile off their journey. The new tunnel is no shorter than the existing one, but passengers will avoid the walk through the A concourse that they currently have to take to reach the underpass to the B gates.

And when they descend into that new tunnel, they’ll be greeted by an immersive experience from an artist whose work they’ve undoubtedly seen in other parts of the airport. Gordon Huether’s River Tunnel features blue hues throughout the 1,200-foot corridor, sparkling terrazzo floors and a ceiling installation similar to his piece, The Canyon, on the walls of the airport’s main atrium. River Tunnel is designed to give travelers the sense of walking on a riverbed.

The new digs are a big upgrade from the — let’s face it, kind of drab — existing tunnel, which was built in 2004 to create a connection point for a future airport without interfering with the old airport (the Central Tunnel is near what used to be concourse D on the previous facility).

“This is going to make a huge difference,” airport Executive Director Bill Wyatt said Wednesday, “in the way people experience the airport.”

Here are a few highlights of the project:

• Work within the tunnel is largely done. Crews are finishing up the area on concourse B where the tunnel will connect.

• The walk from security to concourse B will be shortened by three to four minutes.

• Passengers who walk through the tunnel will hear an eclectic playlist of nearly 100 songs curated by Huether, including tunes from Johnny Cash, Talking Heads, John Lennon and Post Malone.

• The tunnel is about 26 feet below a taxiway for planes.

• The total price tag of the project was about $80 million. The materials and installation of the art within the tunnel cost about $5.5 million.

• Huether initially wanted the tunnel to be a darker, moodier shade of blue, but, he said, “people started freaking out a little bit.”

• The existing tunnel, known by airport officials as the mid-concourse tunnel, will stay open. Some Delta Air Lines passengers, Wyatt said, may find it faster to use that walkway to connect to a flight at one of the 19 gates the Atlanta-based carrier plans to operate on concourse B.

• Space and platforms already exist for two trains to operate in the same trench that was dug for the tunnel. Those trains, however, won’t be installed until a new third concourse is built.

• Travelers who make their way to the B gates from the Central Tunnel will see an old favorite: the terrazzo world map from the old airport. They’ll also see two new Huether installations: Canyon 2.0 and Northern Light.

Mike Williams, director of the airport’s redevelopment program, sees the Central Tunnel as part of the new airport’s next chapter. The first major change, of course, came in 2020, when the new concourses opened their doors.

“We went from the little old airport to this new airport,” he said. “This year really is the second transformation because we’ve really tied the whole thing together so that you’ll have a travel experience from the time you arrive to wherever your gate is without having to do anything special, like walk extra miles.”

Wyatt, however, remains unconvinced that the new path to the B gates will be the end of the bellyaching he hears about walking.

“I am not confident that it will be the end of all of the complaining about the long walk,” he said. “But I have noticed really a difference, which is, people have sort of had their say. I don’t really hear about it as much anymore.”