Jason Barger

The two-minute stroll between Detroit’s Concourse A and C is a cosmic departure from the airport norm.

The tunnel between terminals has motorized walking paths on both sides and a wide-opened space right down the middle, for those with the energy to walk the stretch at a normal pace. The curved-in walls are decorated with slightly raised images of different countries around the world and flashing rainbow colored lights synchronized with the pumped in sounds of nature.
As I came to the end of the tunnel after a recent flight, I couldn’t help but wonder how passengers were reacting to the walkway.

Would the tunnel be embraced? Would they be annoyed by it? Would the flashing lights be enough to break their autopilot trance?

I stopped right at the base of the escalator leading up to Concourse A and witnessed the spattering of smiles as person after person emerged out of the fairytale tunnel.

One woman that looked to be in her late-sixties turned to her partner and said simply, “Wow, that was cool!”

With the recent rise of massage kiosks, oxygen bars, and even karaoke bars — all aimed to reduce traveler stress — the cosmic tunnel is perhaps an image of another creative approach for airports looking for a cultural makeover.

It’s a fact: The way we “feel” in an environment affects the way we “live” in that space.

And in Detroit, the feeling is evidently cosmic.

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