At Long Last, the Billy Bishop Airport Pedestrian Tunnel is Open
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At Long Last, the Billy Bishop Airport Pedestrian Tunnel is Open

Almost a year after its originally proposed opening, Billy Bishop's underwater tunnel is here. For you. For me. For us all.

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While it’s always beaten the mayhem of large-and-in-charge Pearson, many would surely argue that the Billy Bishop Airport experience has long been marred by the additional leg of travel imposed by the 121-metre gap between the airport’s entrance and tarmac-feeding edifice. Despite being a mere 90-second journey, the ride added yet another leg of transit to the ordeal of air travel—a process usually involving a lot of heres-to-theres as is—and one that most people would describe as “kind of a pain” at absolute, generous best. Maybe its psychic impact outweighed any major inconvenience, but psychic impact sucks.

The opening today of the airport’s new pedestrian tunnel marked what is basically the infrastructural equivalent of a soft-bosomed matriarch bringing you into her plush embrace and french-braiding your hair. Running 30 metres—10 storeys, more or less—underground and serviced with a bank of elevators, the tunnel features four moving runways (that’s right: you don’t even have to walk!) to transport travellers 240 metres at a laid-back pace of 2.3 kilometres per hour. And the best part is that the entire trip will take a totally chill six minutes, end to end.

So go ahead. Save your packing to the last minute. Take that dog for a close-cutting pre-flight walk. Fry up a grilled cheese sandwich an hour before departure time. The airport tunnel is here to save your tail.

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