By rosebell
As part of Phase 3 of its redevelopment program, the Salt Lake City (SLC) Department of Airports in Utah, US, has officially opened the new $80m Central Tunnel, which also features Concourse B Plaza, 12 concessions and, initially, five Delta Air Lines’ gates.
Additionally, the aim of constructing the Central Tunnel is to reduce walking time for passengers.
Also Concourse B Plaza, 12 concessions as well as initially, five Delta Air Lines’ gates are the contents of phase 3 of the SLC redevelopment program.
Linking Concourses A and B, the tunnel is due to cut the previous walking distance nearly in half, that is expected to address a long-standing challenge since the opening of the airport’s first phase of the redevelopment programme in 2020.
Considering that passengers travelling to Concourse B previously faced a walk of around 1.6km, the newly inaugurated 1,175-foot-long tunnel is designed to boost passenger flow.
Providing easier and faster navigate between the concourses, the Central Tunnel is equipped with six moving walkways, whereas supporting baggage transport, allowing luggage to reach the baggage carousel in just 10 minutes.
With intention of supporting, construction of the tunnel involved approximately 53km of steel piles and the project incorporated 3,825 tons of rebar and 48,118 cubic yards of concrete.
While the estimated tunnel volume is 2,247,775ft3, Phase 3 features The River Tunnel, a large-scale art installation by Gordon Huether, which reflects Utah’s natural rivers and canyons. It also includes other art pieces celebrating the state’s beauty, including the reinstallation of the iconic World Map from the former Terminal 1.
According to Salt Lake City Department of Airports executive director Bill Wyatt: “With today’s opening of Phase 3 we have reached an extraordinary milestone in The New SLC Redevelopment Program. We have built an airport that is convenient, inspiring, flexible, sustainable and provides our passengers with a first-class experience.”
The date of commencing construction on the airport’s new redevelopment project was July 2014 and in autumn 2020 phase 1 was opened while Phase 2 was completed in autumn 2023.
While the scheduled date for completing the entire project is 2026, additional gates are slated to open in autumn 2025, bringing the total number of aircraft gates to 94.
