Transportation in the Denver Metro Area

Aviation history was made when the $4.3 billion Denver International Airport opened on February 28, 1995. Covering 53 square miles (137 square kilometers, twice the size of Manhattan), Denver International Airport has five full-service runways and has established a landing rate of 120 planes an hour in good weather--36% higher than the good weather rate of 88 planes an hour at Denver's previous airport, Stapleton International. DIA can be expanded to 11 runways capable of serving 110 million passengers a year.

Currently DIA is the fifth-busiest airport in the United States and the 10th-busiest in the world. Twenty-two airlines offer 1200 flights including non-stops to 120 American cities and according to the Federal Aviation Administration, for the past three years, DIA had the fewest delays of any of the nation's 15 busiest airports.

Denver International Airport was designed to move your body and your mind. DIA has the largest public art program in American history with a $7.5 million budget for local and national artists to create works specifically for this unique setting. The art focuses on several themes including western life, travel, light and space.

The 1.4 million square foot main terminal building has become Denver's most distinctive architectural landmark. The roof is Teflon-coated fabric shaped into 34 different peaks, symbolizing the Rocky Mountains, which can be seen on the horizon through huge glass windows. Inside the Great Hall, there is an atrium longer than four football fields and illuminated by soft, shadowless light that filters down from the 126-foot high translucent roof.

A quarter mile of ticket counters eliminates ticketing congestion and there is more than double the concession space found at Stapleton. DIA has 48 restaurants, snack shops, bars and grills and 60 stores and shops. In 1996, DIA was the most efficient airport in the nation with the lowest number of air traffic control delays. In 1997, DIA served 35 million passengers, the most to ever use a Denver airport in a single year.

Denver is also a major hub for inter-city buses with over 60 daily arrivals and departures and is on the main east-west route for AMTRAK with three arrivals a day.

Source: Denver Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau