Denver International Airport can become a global hub, its manager Kim Day says, because the people who planned it made sure it had plenty of room to grow at lower cost than its competitors. DIA already is the 10th busiest airport in the world but its international service is lagging. Day outlined five factors she believes will contribute to the emergence of DIA as a global hub.
The FasTracks Northwest Rail corridor could get a head start under a plan that would build its first six and a half miles, between Denver Union Station and south Westminster at 72nd and Lowell Boulevard, as part of the construction of lines to the airport and Arvada. That will give RTD the capability of initiating rail transit service to southwest Adams County and Westminster sooner rather than later.
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 group of rail transit advocates asked a federal judge on Tuesday to stop FasTracks construction at Denver Union Station until the court can rule in a lawsuit seeking to overturn the environmental approval for the work.
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.
FasTracks’ federal funding picture came into sharper focus on Friday as the Federal Transit Administration announced it will provide the sought-after $304 million in loans toward the conversion of Denver Union Station and $120 million in grants to three rail corridors.
DIA Media Release: Four million passengers in December push Denver International Airport to second-busiest year ever; yearly passenger total tops 50 million for only the second time.
Rendering shows Denver Union Station after its planned conversion into the hub of seven FasTracks rail corridors. DUSPA graphic.
Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff is in Denver on Friday to talk about the Obama Administration’s inclusion of $80 million in initial grants to the FasTracks East Corridor and Gold Line projects and to disclose whether the feds will issue a $300 million loan to the FasTracks renovation of Union Station.
The proposed fiscal year 2011 grants of $40 million each to the East Corridor line to Denver International Airport and the Gold Line to Arvada-Wheat Ridge come under the Federal Transit Administration’s New Full Funding Grant Agreement Funding Recommendations.
It is a good sign that the agency intends to follow up with full grant agreements for the two lines. The $1.233 billion East Corridor financing plan anticipates $850.44 million New Starts grant, while the $517 million Gold Line plan includes a $180 million New Starts grant.
The Denver Post reports that the average domestic airfare out of Denver plunged nearly 35 percent between the third quarters of 2000 and 2009, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
In just a year’s time — between the third quarters of 2008 and 2009 — Denver’s airfares fell 16 percent.
In comparison, the U.S. average domestic airfare dropped 9 percent between the third quarters of 2000 and 2009 and 14.4 percent between the third quarters of 2008 and 2009. Bureau records show it was the biggest year-to-year decline on record.
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