DIA Research Center Passenger Facilities
 
Denver International Airport’s terminal building is named for businessman and aviation pioneer Elrey B. Jeppesen, whose “Jepp” navigational maps and charts are standard equipment in most commercial airline cockpits around the world. Denver architectural firm Fentress Bradburn Architects Ltd. designed Jeppesen Terminal.
The terminal has approximately 1.5 million square feet (135,000 square meters) of public space, including a central atrium that is walled by glass and covered by a translucent tensile membrane roof.
- The 1,200-foot-long (364 meter) terminal is longer than Chicago’s Sears Tower is tall. The terminal’s atrium is 900 feet (273 meters) long and 210 feet (63.7 meters) wide.
- Varieties of granite from around the world – Asia, Africa, Europe and North and South America – are used in the terminal floor. The floor pattern echoes the roof design and subtly reinforces directions of passenger flow.
Departing passengers arrive at the dual-sided Jeppesen Terminal via Peña Boulevard, the airport roadway. The roadway divides to Terminal West and Terminal East, but also separates into three traffic levels for greater convenience and less traffic congestion:
Departures (Level 6) – Departing passengers, curbside
baggage check-in and airline ticketing.
Taxi, Van, Shuttle Services (Level 5) – Drop-off and pick-up
lanes for taxis, car-rental vans, shuttles, buses, limousines.
Arrivals (Level 4) – Passenger pick-up.
Two central security-screening areas are located at entrances to the airport subway system (AGTS). The AGTS links Jeppesen Terminal with Concourses A, B and C. A third security-screening area is available for people walking to Concourse A via a glass-enclosed bridge.
Flight information monitors are located at each subway station entrance, and baggage information monitors are located near baggage-claim carousels.
Car rental and ground transportation carrier counters are in the terminal’s atrium between the security-screening areas. International arrivals proceed through FIS and U.S. Customs at the north end of Terminal Level 5.
Jeppesen Terminal’s white-peaked roof consists of two translucent layers of Teflon-coated fiberglass fabric independently supported by cables held in tension. At its highest point, the roof is 126 feet above the terminal’s main floor. Total cost of the roof was $36 million.
The fabric is highly resistant to dirt and pollution and provides long life with minimal maintenance. The terminal roof required approximately 375,000 square feet of material, and the adjacent curbside roof required 75,000 square feet.
Thirty-four masts and 10 miles of cable, ranging from ¾ to 3-1/8 inches
in diameter, support the roof, which weighs approximately 400 tons or 1.5 pounds
per square foot. The fabric has a tensile strength of 500,000 pounds per square
inch.
Denver International Airport has three concourses (Concourse A, B and C) beyond secruity screening that provide access to the airline gates. Concourses B anc C are accessible from Jeppessen Terminal only via the airport subway system. Concourse A can be reached by walking the passenger bridge or by taking the subway train from the terminal.
Accessible by train from Jeppesen Terminal or by our unique walkway which
spans the airplane taxiway and gives travelers a closeup view of the airplanes
as they move to their gates. Contains gates A24 through A68 and serves domestic carriers Continential, Frontier, Frontier JetExpress (Horizon), Great Lakes, and jetBlue. International carriers British Airways, Mexicana, Air Canada and Lufthansa also serve their customers from this concourse.
Accessible only by train from Jeppesen Terminal. Concourse B contains Gates B15 through B95 and serves United and United Express, as well as commuter flights through the Regional Jet Facility.
Accessible only by train from Jeppesen Terminal. Gates C28 trhough C50 serve domestic carriers AirTran, Alaska/Horizon, American, Big Sky, Delta, Midwest, Northwest, Southwest and US Airways.
DIA’s master plan was based on using an Automated Guideway Transit System (AGTS) to transport passengers between the landside terminal and the airside concourses. The AGTS is an essential part of the overall DIA transportation system. It provides a fast and efficient link between ground transportation and air transportation. The AGTS is a critical component in the successful operation of the airport, providing quick passenger mobility through the airport's public facilities.
The system incorporates fully automated, bi-directional trains that operate in two dedicated tunnels beneath DIA. Train cars, under automatic control, run on rubber tires along concrete guideways that are in a pinched-loop configuration. Each car has four pairs of wheels that lock it to a center steel guide beam anchored to the guideway. The rubber tires of the cars allow a smooth and quiet ride.
The Automated Guideway Transit System operates with a quartet of four-car trains and carries approximately 8,300 passengers per hour in both directions, completing a 2.4-mile roundtrip in 11 minutes, stopping at seven stations to load and unload passengers.
The system operates within a TSA-secured environment. Stations and train cars are fully handicapped accessible. Station platform windows allow passengers to see incoming trains, and large side and end car windows allow a clear view of the stations and of the art installations in the train tunnels. Fire-resistant doors on each car and station platform open automatically when a train arrives at its stop. Sensors prevent doors from closing when a door opening is not clear. Regardless of the passenger load, the vehicles automatically level themselves to match the floor height of the station platform for easy entry and exit.
Because of DIA's expanse, it is not feasible for passengers to walk from the terminal to most departing gates. The AGTS, as a critical system, was built with redundancy and reliability, designed to ensure continuous movement of passengers by switching automatically to a reduced-service mode in case of a failure. Eleven reduced-service modes, including run-around and shuttle modes, are designed into the DIA system.
Audio and visual announcements in the stations and on the train provide passengers with emergency information. An emergency walkway was built along the entire length of the guideway, with emergency exits located every 400 feet in the train tunnels to facilitate passenger evacuation in an emergency. An elaborate smoke alarm and exhaust system was installed in the tunnels, and the power distribution system has redundant features to minimize the impact of a system failure. An uninterruptible power supply ensures that life-safety, communications and emergency equipment continues to operate even if primary power fails. The AGTS central control is located next to command centers for airport maintenance, operations and police for easy communication and coordination.
The contract to design and to provide the system was awarded to AEG Transportation Inc. in June 1990. The system underwent extensive acceptance testing and verification before DIA opened to ensure safety and dependability. DIA's AGTS is the first airport transit system to fully address the National Fire Protection Association 130 Standard for fixed guideway transit systems. The design of the system has incorporated expansion to allow easy growth as the airport accommodates future traffic.
A bridge spanning airport taxiways, linking an airside concourse with the landside terminal, is Denver International Airport’s unique solution to providing a sterile corridor between international gates and the area for Federal Inspection Services and Customs.
This double-level glass and steel bridge arcs 365 feet from DIA’s Concourse A to Jeppesen Terminal, allowing international passengers to move from their arrival gates up over the bridge’s sterile top level to the terminal for FIS and Customs processing. The lower level gives domestic passengers the option of walking between the concourse and the terminal instead of taking the underground rail system.
Every effort was made to enhance the experience of users. The bridge lines are based on clean, simple geometry that emphasizes the openness of the structure, allowing for maximum exterior views.
As passengers walk over the span, much of DIA’s airfield is visible. When they look beyond the airfield they can see prairie to the east, and to the west are views of Downtown Denver and a Rocky Mountain panorama. Passengers also can look down as arriving and departing aircraft taxi beneath them. Structural designers accomplished a major feat by connecting the concourse and terminal while providing tail and wing clearance for two commercial airliners to taxi side-by-side under the bridge.
The exterior curtain walls of the bridge consist of all-glass panels that complement adjacent DIA facilities. Because of the intense physical challenges offered by the project -- such as control of heat deflections and thermal movement -- the airport chose a structural engineering firm to lead the design team. The bridge truss has some of the largest structural steel elements produced in the United States and uses huge bearings at the massive concrete abutments, allowing the bridge to accommodate up to six inches of thermal movement.
The bridge has its own HVAC, fire-protection and smoke-evacuation systems, and it is tied into the airport-wide fire-detection, security and public address systems.
Electric carts that the airlines use to transport elderly or disabled passengers between ticket counters and aircraft gates can easily navigate the bridge. Two moving sidewalks take perambulating travelers both directions over the span as a sound system plays Native American music, giving arrivals an authentic first impression of the West.
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