Fast Facts : Research Center

Denver International Airport is the only major airport to be built in the United States in the last 25 years. The current facility can accommodate 50 million passengers a year without any additional construction.

  Denver International Airport At A Glance

• Opening Date: February 28, 1995
• Location: 23 miles (36.8 km) northeast of downtown Denver
• Latitude: 39 degrees, 50 minutes, 57.8 seconds
• Longitude: 104 degrees, 40 mintues, 23.9 seconds
• Elevation: 5,431 feet above sea level
• Size: 34,000 acres (13,600 hectares), 53 square miles (137.8 sq. km)
• Runways: six; five are 12,000 feet (3,640 meters) long and the sixth is 16,000 feet (4,853 meters) long
• Terminal building: Elrey B. Jeppesen Terminal (dual-sided)
• Concourses: three airside concourses -- A, B and C
• Gates: 93, including access gates to commuter facilities
• Number of passenger airlines: 30

  Fast Facts

• Nearly 2.9 million cubic yards of concrete were used to construct six runways, taxiways and aprons.
• The Jeppesen Terminal roof is 126 feet from the terminal floor to its highest point and is supported by 34 masts and 10 miles of steel cable. The two rows of masts are 150 feet apart. The roof system uses a catenary cable system similar to that of the Brooklyn Bridge and relies on design curvature and equalization of the fabric's internal stress fields for stability and the ability to support wind and snow loads. The roof membrane weighs less than two pounds per square foot, a total of approximately 400 tons.
• A quarry in Marble, Colorado, supplied the white marble used on areas of the terminal walls. This stone is from the same quarry that supplied marble for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Lincoln Memorial.
• DIA's 327-foot FAA control tower is one of the tallest in North America. There are 548 stairs from ground level to the top and the average walking time is 20 minutes. The tower is engineered to sway only one-half inch in an 86-mile-per-hour wind.
• The airport site, though relatively flat, was lowered in some areas and raised in others, requiring the moving of 110 million cubic yards of earth. 110 million cubic yards is approximately one-third the amount of dirt moved during the Panama Canal project. This amount of earth, if dumped into a single pile, would cover 32 city blocks to a depth of one-quarter mile.
• DIA has a fiber optic communications spine with 5,300 miles of cable. That is enough cable to run from New York City to Buenos Aires, Argentina. That length is longer than the River Nile. The airport's 11,365 miles of copper cable would be enough to run from Los Angeles to Paris and back.
• The fueling system at DIA is capable of pumping 1,000 gallons of jet fuel per minute through a 28-mile network of pipes. Each of the six fuel farm tanks holds 65,000 barrels (2.73 million gallons) of jet fuel. The 28 miles of fuel pipe would extend from Idaho Springs, Colorado, to the summit of Mt. Evans.
• Denver International Airport has 1,500 flight and baggage information display monitors.
• The passenger bridge between the Jeppesen Terminal and Concourse A is 365 feet long, weighs 3,300 tons and the bottom of the bridge is 45.61 feet above the taxiway pavement at the highest point of its arc.
• Runways were built in layers, beginning with six feet of compacted, non-expansive soil, followed by a rototilled 12-inch layer of lime-treated soil to form a subgrade. On top of the subgrade are eight inches of a cement-treated base, topped with 17 inches of concrete.
• Jeppesen Terminal has more than 1.5 million square feet of space.

  Time Capsule Contents

• Photos of Coors Field
• Colorado Rockies autographed opening-day baseball
• DIA bonds offering statements for from Piper Jaffray
• Three columns about DIA from longtime airport critic Gene Amole of the Rocky Mountain News
• Rock Bottom Brewery Restaurant labels
• Indian prayer baskets representing Native American culture and Indigenous Peoples
• Sample Colorado vehicle emissions certificate
• Field Elementary School 2nd-grade class poem about Colorado and posters of DIA and the region
• Copy of Park Hill neighborhood lawsuit against Stapleton International Airport
• Black Hawk casino tokens
• Rocky Mountain News newspaper photo essay
• Credit card
• Written record of Colorado Aids Project
• Programs from all of the New World Airport Commission’s events
• Composite digital photo by Greg Esser and Eric Helland – “Denver is a Cow Town”
• Indigenous People’s declaration
• Colorado Daily 100-year anniversary issue
• Issue of La Voz Spanish language newspaper
• Historic Denver’s 100th-anniversary newsletter
• Stapleton International Airport flight book
• Stapleton International Airport history book
• Piece of DIA terminal roof
• Dictionary of newest words of the 20th century: “Neo Words”
• Two laser discs of photos and other DIA promotional items
• DIA belt buckle from MKO/Greiner team
• DIA opening-day newspapers
• DIA Partnership charter
• Coins from the Denver Mint (quarter and penny)
• Denver Art Museum 100th-anniversary program and postcard
• Microfilm chronicling the construction of DIA
• Masons Grand Lodge Centennial Book
• PIRATE: A Contemporary Art Oasis bumper sticker
• Colorado Aviation Historical Society Newsletter
• Molly Brown House Information
• Colorado flags
• Boycott Colorado information from Gay/Lesbian Community of Colorado
• Colorado Airlines Historical aviation photos
• TWA, Continental and United pilots’ wings
• Jeppesen air navigational charts
• DIA groundbreaking medallion
• Continental globe
• Copy of Stapleton Innerline newspaper
• Copy of Hemispheres magazine from United Airlines
• Tennis shoes of Denver Mayor Wellington Webb
• Denver Broncos and Denver Nuggets tickets and schedules
• Black Hall of Fame information
• Photos of Mayor Webb and Pope John Paul II during World Youth Day