DENVER -- The image that most people recall of Denver International Airport is of high-speed rail cars flipping luggage into the air and sending the shredded contents raining onto steel tracks.
Denver officials assure that problem has been fixed and promise that future passengers will get their bags in one piece.
But when the airport finally opens tomorrow -- 16 months behind schedule and nearly $3 billion over early cost estimates -- it will be anything but the multihub technological marvel they once guaranteed would generate jobs and revenue for 100 years without spending local tax dollars.
Denver International is not yet finished and will limp along for the foreseeable future as the city tries to make its bond payments and fend off federal investigations that threaten its economic stability.
And passengers may still have to wait for their bags.
The $193 million automated baggage system, which has been the butt of jokes for more than a year, will handle only outbound bags at United Airlines' Concourse B. All baggage arriving at the 53-square-mile facility will, for months to come, be moved by a $57 million backup system of old-fashioned tugs and carts.
Adding to the eve-of-opening jitters here is the potential impact of the "sticker shock" awaiting passengers who book flights in and out of the $4.2 billion airfield, crowned by gleaming white Teflon-fiberglass spires meant to mimic the snow-draped Rockies to the west.
United Airlines, which commands DIA's only hub and 70 percent of its passenger traffic, has added a $40 surcharge to round-trip tickets here to help defray increased operating costs. Other carriers are planning to match that fare increase. Taxi fares from downtown will average $40. Rental car agencies have increased daily rates by at least $3. Most of the nearest hotels are 15 miles away -- at 64-year-old Stapleton Airport, the congested facility that DIA is replacing.
"The increased ticket prices could dampen traffic significantly," predicts Paul Dempsey, director of the transportation law program at the University of Denver. "The big question then will be whether the number of passengers passing through will be lower than the city's estimate of 36 million."
That is only one of the questions weighing heavily on the minds of airport bondholders. No wonder. The only thing pledged as security on their bonds are airport revenues.
As it stands, the new airport -- which city officials predict will generate a profit of $20 million in its first year of operation -- has a BB rating, the lowest investment-grade rating with Standard & Poor's, the nation's leading bond-rating agency.
Also of concern is a Securities and Exchange Commission probe of allegations that Denver failed to provide enough information to bond buyers about the troubled automated baggage system that is blamed for two of four delays in opening DIA.
That investigation has been broadened to include recent interviews with the airport's original guiding force, former Denver mayor and current U.S. Secretary of Transportation Federico Pena, and other former key airport figures.
At least a dozen other federal and local government investigations are examining allegations of shoddy workmanship, minority contract irregularities, misappropriation of airport funds, cronyism in awarding airport contracts and attempts to influence city officials.
A more immediate concern is whether financially ailing Continental Airlines will continue to honor its $59 million lease and gate commitment at DIA. The carrier, which has reduced its daily flights from 100 to 15 because of higher operating costs at DIA, now only needs three or four of the 20 gates it has leased.
If Continental does not pay for its unused gates, it could more than wipe out the airport's projected profit in its first year of operation, city officials said. Denver filed a lawsuit against Continental Wednesday to propel negotiations to guarantee a revenue stream from all 20 gates.
It all adds up to a distressing start for the first major airport to be built in 20 years, according to Gordon Yale, a Denver securities expert.
"While I do not think it is inevitable that this project will fail, it will certainly not, in the short-term, produce what it was supposed to," Mr. Yale said.
"Instead of serving as a magnet for traffic, it has driven traffic away," he said. "Instead of three hubs and competitive air fares, it will have one hub and among the highest fares in the nation. Nor has it made us an international gateway, or sparked a real estate boom."
City officials prefer to emphasize the airport's positives: five all-weather runways, 15,000 covered parking spots for automobiles, computer-operated subway trains, vendors offering everything from gourmet coffee to designer suitcases. Above all, the airport offers almost unlimited room for expansion.
Diane Koller, DIA's director of marketing, dismisses references to the airport's troubled history, saying: "If people are happy coming through the place, what happened in its past life won't be of much concern to them."