Insight
Monday, February 27,1995 Page 3
■ Total cost: $4.9 billion.
■ Short-term cost per passanger:
$18.80.
■ Location: About 23 miles northeast
of Denver, 35 minutes drive time.
■ Size: 53 square miles.
■ DIA replaces Stapleton, which was
built in 1929, re-built in 1966, and
remodeled in 1986.
■ About 22 major airlines and 135
charters will use DjtA.
■ Two baggage systems will be in
place - a computer-controlled
automated system and a traditional
conveyors, tugs, and carts system.
■ About 2,5 million cubic yards of
concrete were used to pave DIA's
runways and taxiways,
■ The 1.5 million square feet of the
Elrey Jeppesen Terminal features
three concourses with 107 shops and
restaurants.
■ DIA can handle 50 million
passengers and 540,000 flight
operations a year.
■ DIA will operate 13,000 flights per
day with 640 non-stop departures to
107 cities.
■ 32 low-level windshear alerting
towers and a state-of-the-art Doppler
radar system will be used to prevent
runway incursions.
| Source: DIA and The Associated Press
„ Courtesy of Dl A
„ The sun sets over the new Denver International Airport, which will open Tuesday after months of delays.
Following months of delays, jokes and debate,
Denver’s new international airport Tuesday is...
Clear for takeoff
J
One thing I learned a
long time ago was to
joke about it—find its
soft spots and pick it
apart. When you do that
you have few negative
comments,
m
NORM AVERY
DIA community relations liaison
DIA
Continued from Page 1
With all the improvements and
modem technology used at DIA,
from advanced radar systems and
wider runways to high-speed
moving sidewalks and subway
shuttle systems, Avery said the
airport was worth the wait — and
the cost: about $4.9 billion.
“We hiccup millions around
here,” he said.
Denver needed a new airport,
Avery said, because Stapleton was
too congested and technologically
behind to handle Denver’s growing
air traffic.
Douglas, Jefferson and Adams
counties, which border Denver, are
three of the fastest growing counties
in the nation, turning Stapleton into
a “bottleneck,” Avery said.
Stapleton was remodeled in 1966
and 1986, Avery said, but the
problems weren’t fixed.
“We were patching new parts to
an old piece,” he said.
Stapleton faced other problems
as well, Avery said, because of its
proximity to the downtown and
residential areas. f
Stapleton was built in 1929, and
the city was built around it. As air
traffic grew, Avery said, so did
noise pollution, which spurred
complaints from the airport’s
neighbors.
DLA’s location about 23 miles
northeast of Denver takes care of
the problem — almost too much.
“People joked that we were
building a new airport — in
Kansas,” Avery said, laughing.
DIA, which is built on a 53
square-mile site about twice the size
of Manhattan Island, will allow
planes to fly two to five miles before
leaving airport property.
Avery said DIA was following a
trend of large airports, such as the
Dallas-Ft. Worth airport, to build
outside the city in an effort to
protect the environment.
Regardless of the trend, some
Denver-area natives at the Univer
sity of Nebraska-Lincoln said they
thought the location — among
other problems — would plague
DIA’s opening.
Suzanne Clement, a freshman
broadcasting major, flies into
Denver on her way to her home
town of Aurora, Colo.
“I think Stapleton was working
just fine,” she said.
Clement, who has a friend who
works as a pilot for Delta Airlines,
said she saw videotaped previews of
the airport.
“It will be a wonderful airport,”
she said, “if it works.”
The airport’s far-away location
is an inconvenience, she said,
because the four-lane highway
leading to and from the airport to
Denver would not be able to handle
traffic.
Michelle Beck, a junior English
DIA to barely affect Lincoln
From Staff Reports
When Denver International
Airport opens Tuesday morning,
the immediate impact it will have
on Lincoln air traffic will be mini
mal, a Lincoln airport official
said.
Wayne Anderson, director of
Lincoln Municipal Airport, said
the airport handled two or three
flights to and from Denver each
day.
That number is not expected to
change when DIA opens, he said;
however, the long-range impact
may be different.
When airlines, such as United,
become more comfortable with DIA
as it builds itself into a major inter
national hub, Anderson said, they
may expand their service to smaller
branches like Lincoln.
During the transition, some
flights today and Tuesday have been
canceled or changed, he said, and
all customers were given advance
warning of the changes.
Anderson said it was too soon to
tell whether DIA would have a
positive overall impact. When
Washington-Dulles International
Airport was built, he said, it was a
“non-used” airport for many years,
and soon became a tremendous air
travel asset.
“In 10 years we might be able to
look back and say this is the finest
example of creative thinking,” he
said, “or this was a great disaster.”
major and former Denver resident,
said the mile-long shuttle ride from
the parking lots to the terminal was
another hassle.
Beck, whose mother used to live
three miles from Stapleton, said she
didn’t think noise pollution
justified a new airport.
“You can occasionally hear
planes,” she said, “but I don’t
personally find it annoying.”
Beck said DIA was a poorly
planned airport that Denver did not
need.
“I don’t know why they have it.
Politics? I guess to waste money.”
Though the bond insurance cost
the city of Denver $1 million a day
each day the airport’s opening was
delayed, DIA projects a net income
within the first year, said Dolores
Wilson, director of economic
development with the Denver
Chamber of Commerce.
“We hope to turn around the
negative press with what we’ve
received with the delays,” Wilson
said.
She said Denver would deal with
the distance factor by giving DIA
its own entrance from the main
highway and by adding a new
beltway that would service another
access point.
Then-Mayor City draws up 1 Denver and Denver voters Ground One year after B Mayor Wellington I Webb announces City [j Webb eunnounces I Webb
Frederico Pena | a master plan Adams County approve a is construction begins, city I Webb announces a I another delay in the dedicates the airport opening announces
‘proposes for the airport sign an nonbinding broken officials say the project is | delay in airport opening date, DIA, j will be delayed DIA will
construction of | and begins | agreement to j referendum to at the one month ahead of 1 opening, from Oct. i rescheduling it to four indefinitely. He open
a new airport | working on 1 close Stapleton build a new DIA site, schedule and 11 percent I 31 to Dec. 18, citing March 9,1994. He months vows not to name a Feb. 28.
on an acquiring the f International airport, 62.7 —x '■^•under budget. fl construction delays, said crews needed before new opening date
unincorporated | site. _| Airport and build_more time to complete openinq until he is certain
parcel in 37.3 percent. construction and train day. the city can live up
Adams County. _ __workers on DIA’s to it.
