Denver International Airport turned 15 years old over the weekend. A milestone for sure for a facility that had a difficult time in development and construction, and that many critics even predicted would never open or go belly-up financially within 18 months. But what was on the news about it? Cupcakes.
A divided RTD board committee has given preliminary approval to removing a set of planned moving walkways from the design of the FasTracks transfer facility at Denver Union Station,a controversial element that has divided transit advocates and helped spawn a lawsuit.
The Colorado Department of Transportation has put 40 highway and airport projects totaling $136.8 million on its wish list for federal grants in 2011.
This U.S. 85 bridge in Douglas County is one of the 124 poor-rated bridges on the list to be replaced with the controversial FASTER auto fee increases. Some opponents will try to repeal the new revenue in 2010.
Follow the money, and you’ll find most of the Top Ten Transportation Stories of 2009.
The transportation funding crisis and the difficult efforts to establish a sustainable annual program are at the foundation of many of the important transportation infrastructure stories.
From Washington to Colfax and Sherman, to your closest light rail station, the disruption to programs caused by the volatility of transportation funding dominated the stories of 2009 – one of the worst economic years in generations.
The entire staff at Inside Lane, together with his wife, Harriet, reviewed the major stories to come up with this list for your consideration.
DIA Press Release
Denver International Airport recorded 4,101,004 passengers in October, a 1.3-percent decline from the 4,154,517 travelers who passed through the facility in the same month last year. Despite the small monthly drop, it was the third-busiest October ever at the Denver airport.
“We continue to be encouraged by the relatively small decline in our traffic,” Aviation Manager Kim Day said Friday. “Because of the sagging economy and the resulting cuts in airline capacity, we had expected we’d see a 2 to 2.5 percent drop in passengers from last year. And that’s where it looks like we will end 2009.”
Year to date through October, passenger traffic at DIA totaled 42,436,235. That was down 2.4 percent from the 43,492,803 travelers who used the facility during the same period of 2008.
DIA handled 49,952 flight operations in October, a decline of 1.0 percent from the same month of last year. For the first 10 months of 2009, DIA’s operations totaled 512,545, 2.8 percent below the 527,163 operations recorded in the same period of last year.
The complete traffic report will be available on DIA’s Web site by following this link:
http://www.flydenver.com/diabiz/stats/traffic/index.asp
Describing RTD’s condition as “sound but challenged,” District interim general manager Phil Washington said Tuesday night that it would break ground in August on construction of the FasTracks commuter train to DIA, the Denver Post reports.
RTD officials have said construction of the train to DIA is not dependent on getting federal grant money because it can be built using RTD funds and about $950 million in financing that the PPP companies are expected to bring to the project.
DIA Press Release
Airlines say they expect 960,293 passengers to use Denver International Airport from today through Monday. The total is 31,073 higher than the 929,220 travelers who passed through DIA during Thanksgiving week last year.
The total makes this week the second-busiest Thanksgiving week in the history of the Denver airport. The busiest Thanksgiving week at DIA was in 2006 when, according to numbers provided by the airlines, 966,976 travelers used the airport.
Sunday, Nov. 29, will be the busiest day of the week with 160,854 travelers. That compares with 157,528 passengers on the Sunday after Thanksgiving last year. The following day, Monday, Nov. 30, will be nearly as busy with 160,063 travelers expected.
The busiest pre-Thanksgiving day this year will be Wednesday, Nov. 25, with 150,007 passengers. That compares with 146,325 on the same day of Thanksgiving week last year.
Other daily passenger totals for the holiday week are: Tuesday, 146,893; Thursday, 97,812; Friday, 106,042; and Saturday, 138,622.
The airport, the Transportation Security Administration, the airlines, and concessionaires will be fully staffed during the week.
DIA Press Release
To celebrate America Recycles Day on Nov. 15, Denver International Airport and 16 of its shops and restaurants will be rewarding passengers who recycle with gift certificates for an entire week starting on Monday, Nov. 16, and running through to Nov. 20. The way to win? Get caught “green handed” in the act of recycling something at one of Denver International Airport’s 520 special recycling bins.
Members of DIA’s Environmental Services team will be combing the main Jeppesen Terminal and the three concourses looking for passengers who are recycling. Participating restaurants have provided gift certificates for discounts on meals and beverages at the airport and include Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream; Boulder Beer Tap House; Burger King; Caribou Coffee; Chef Jimmy’s; The CofTea Shop; Dazbog Coffee; Einstein Bros. Bagels; Jamba Juice; Lefty’s Mile High Grille, Colorado Trails Grille and Front Range Grille; Mesa Verde Lounge; Red Rocks Bar & Grill; Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory; Schlotzsky’s Deli; TCBY and Coffee Beanery / UNO Pizza.
Denver International Airport is world-renowned for its environmental achievements, including being the first international airport in the United States to develop and implement a facility-wide, ISO-14001 certified Environmental Management System (EMS). The EMS is the tool that DIA uses to systematically and proactively manage the airport’s environmental programs. Denver International Airport’s environmental management has established many firsts in the United States and internationally:
• Received the FAA Environmental Stewardship Award (2007)
• Accepted into Colorado’s environmental leadership program as a Gold Level member (2004)
• Active participant in local and state sustainability initiatives, including Greenprint Denver and Colorado Climate Action Plan
• In 2008, DIA diverted over 1400 tons of municipal solid wastes from the landfill for recycling
• DIA is one of 10 international airports that are working together with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) to establish sustainability guidelines for the world’s airports
According to Janell Barrilleaux, Director of Environmental Programs at DIA, “America Recycles Day provides DIA with the opportunity to educate our travelling public, business partners and employees about the importance of recycling. Recycling conserves resources, reduces waste and in many cases, reduces costs. With the generous participation by our restaurants and shops, we’re hoping to raise the level of awareness about DIA’s environmental programs—and make it fun at the same time.”
For additional information about DIA’s Environmental Management System, visit http://www.flydenver.com/diaBiz/community/enviro/index.asp . For more information about America Recycles Day 2009, visit http://www.americarecyclesday.org/americarecycles.aspx .
The average air fare out of Denver International Airport was lower in the first quarter this year than when DIA opened in 1995 – testimony to airline competition, cost containment by the city and what some call the “Southwest Effect.”
In fact, Denver is one of only four air travel markets among the top 85 on the country that had lower air fares than 14 years ago, according to figures compiled by the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics, part of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Only Richmond, Va., declined more in average plane ticket price than Denver over the same period.
The figures show that the average air fare in Denver in the first quarter this year, the latest period available, was 3.7 percent lower than in the first quarter of 1995. That was when Denver was preparing to transition to the new airport from Stapleton International Airport. DIA opened Feb. 28, 1995.
The national average air fare, by contrast, was 16 percent higher in the first quarter this year than in 1995.
Genetec Press Release
Genetec announced recently that Denver International Airport has selected Omnicast, Genetec’s advanced IP video surveillance solution, to secure its 53 square-mile facility.
Ranked the 10th busiest airport in the world in 2008 for passenger traffic by Airports Council International, DIA was looking to upgrade its outdated analog system to a newer and more advanced network-based solution that could evolve as newer technology emerged.
The entire system to date consists of 1,200 cameras and 12 archive servers that are expected to double in the next 18 months. Besides the airport protection and surveillance applications such as monitoring the facility, security checkpoints and passenger congestion throughout, they also intend to service external clients with the use of Omnicast. Currently, the Transportation Security Administration, airlines, airport operations, airport parking, Denver police department and Denver airport security, among others, all use video surveillance for a range of purposes.
To date, all our clients have been using their own systems from different organizations,” said Phil Medina, senior IT administrator for airport security at DIA. “Eventually, we will connect all cameras to the Omnicast system and offer it as a service to everyone.”
Some other features include the user-friendly interface, which would allow DIA to save time in training customers with all levels of experience, the multiple options to manage and store the video, as well as the watermarking options, which further protect the data.
Since DIA is also storing a lot of video recordings, it are able to reduce the amount of required storage using tools in Omnicast that efficiently optimize its bandwidth, such as multicasting and multi-streaming. The system’s open architecture contributed to additional flexibility, allowing DIA to preserve some initial investments including a storage area network, existing cameras and an access control system that will soon be fully integrated with Omnicast.
Apart from continually growing the system, there are still larger plans ahead for DIA and their new Omnicast solution, including integrations with video analytics and situational management software, as well as the introduction of a strengthened perimeter security program.
“DIA has really taken advantage of Omnicast’s unique capabilities by turning a typical large-scale airport application into one of the most cutting-edge deployments in the transportation industry,” says Danny Peleg, director of transportation market for Genetec. “We are glad to have been able to contribute to their pro-active security enhancements, as their efforts will certainly not go unnoticed.”
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