What do you dislike about Denver? (Fort Collins: fence, linear, airports)

[gchc303]

I just returned from Texas. Colorado drivers in general are much more courteous than Texans. Texans(I am one originally still proud) will cut you off, honk, flip the bird. Does road rage exist in Colorado? People allow others to pass, and wave you to go in front of them. Could be why traffic is so heavy.
In Houston the freeways were better. I could go 80 mph from downtown to the Sam Houston Tollway without slowing once on 1-10. 80 is slow driving in Texas. I came into Houston from Dallas at 5:30 pm and I never slowed down all the way to downtown on 1-45.
In Denver the old 3 lane freeways are congested all day.
Colorado, old, narrow roads, excellent drivers.
Texas, new, good, wide roads, insane drivers.

[xeric]

Originally Posted by bogotrep

So you are comparing an airport that was built 60 years ago and serves maybe 1/10th or less of the traffic why?

To make a point about the poor design of DIA and its crummy location. Let's say you could make a case for locating it halfway to Kansas. You still have the issue of why, given so much land to play with, they had to spread all of the components out to the degree that it requires so many different hops to get from long term parking to the gate or from the gate to the rental cars. There's no reason that they couldn't locate the rental car facilities and the long-term parking adjacent to the terminal. Especially since this was not an infill development that had to take existing structures into account.

[xeric]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

Do you really want to walk from Jeppesen to gate E-99? The trains make sense.

No but then I have to do as much walking to get from the terminal entrance to the train and then from the train to my gate at DIA as I would to walk straight from the terminal to the gate in most other airports.

[vegaspilgrim]

DIA is nice and ultra-modern, tons of places to eat, so much better than your typical claustrophobic dingy airport (with the exception of the annex to Concourse B). If you have to be stuck in an airport on a 4 hour layover, DIA is a good place to get stuck. But, as people have mentioned, it's annoying. Actually not just annoying, it's effin' annoying. And the turbulence flying in & out of Denver is often brutal.

Phoenix and Vegas are also major air hubs, and their airports are centrally located right in the middle of town. Phoenix especially, where you have 3 standalone terminals, is so much easier to get in and out of than DIA.

I absolutely despise air travel as a whole. I'd be perfectly happy if I never had to get an an airplane again!

[qsr]

DIA is awesome--best place to fly in and out of in the USA. Parking is easy, Security is quick, and if you fly Frontier you can just walk to the terminal. I mostly hate that they decided to create a toll road to get to it. The reason it's so far out East is to accommodate a huge United hub and reduce weather delays, which works most of the time. Land is not as plentiful out here as you may think.

[Johnny.Sunshine]

I suspect another reason DIA is so far east is to take it well out of the metro area's basin, so the planes won't contribute to the air quality disaster that the occasional inversion causes. Which brings me to wondering why there's an oil refinery right within the Denver basin - I'm sure that made sense 75 years ago.

[Katiana]

DIA is where it is b/c that is where there was enough land to build it. I don't think it's so sprawling as some say. I've been to several airports where I had to take a bus from one terminal to another to change planes.

[OneMoreMove]

I agree, it's actually a well designed airport that's intended to last a long, long time. There are good reasons for spreading it out so far - this model has worked well in Hong Kong and other airports that handle huge amounts of traffic. Meanwhile, airports like La Guardia or LAX struggle everyday to handle capacity with limited space.

[bogotrep]

I mostly hate that they decided to create a toll road to get to it. The reason it's so far out East is to accommodate a huge United hub and reduce weather delays, which works most of the time. Land is not as plentiful out here as you may think.

You don't have to take a toll road to get to the airport. The reason it is so far east in what was Adams county is well, to be so far east and out of the way in terms of noise pollution mostly. There were in fact three sites considered, one of them up towards Ft. Lupton, another further east and the final site where it is today. The final site selection process itself was pretty corrupt. The land the airport sits on traded hands at inflated values multiple times until the city and county of Denver paid a mark up of thousands of percent in the end over what the farmers sold for just a couple to a few years earlier.

United had very little input into the construction or size or reasons for the airport. At the time Continental was the larger carrier in the region.

Phoenix and Vegas are also major air hubs, and their airports are centrally located right in the middle of town.

Vegas is not a hub, it is a destination. Well, Allegiant Air calls it a hub but they are a small player who make money flying to podunk towns that nobody else does and bringing them back to Las Vegas. Vegas also has a train and an off-site rental complex.

as I would to walk straight from the terminal to the gate in most other airports.

This is not true. Virtually every modern airport, which means designed after 1970 or so incorporates either very long walks or some manner of a tram system. Small town and dying town airports are the exception. Buffalo, St Louis, Eerie PA etc. Why? There is not enough load demand to require these things.

A great book exists on DIA, "Denver International Airport: Lessons Learned." I would highly suggest anyone with questions about DIA or other airports and why they are designed the way they are pick it up.

[OneMoreMove]

Las Vegas is technically a hub, for only for regional routes. If you look at the busiest airports in the country, LAS is on the list but the majority of those passengers are flying to LAX, SFO, etc. Not many long-haul flights, etc. Also, keep in mind that LAS is essentially full - there is already limited runway capacity and a 10+ taxi line during normal daytime traffic.

Denver airport is intended to grow into a major hub, which is may be able to do due to it's location in the US. Already there are tons of flights (more than LAS for sure) - only Atlanta, LAX, Chicago, maybe DFW are busier. But Denver has tons of room to grow. This is good for the city economically - hubs make money. I rarely have to wait on the runway to take off at DEN...