Colorado Springs Homes
Colorado Home Resource is your complete homes resource for the greater Colorado Springs area. This is a FREE Colorado Springs homes resource offering searches of the local MLS and more. Colorado Home Resource is your new homes source for Colorado Springs and the entire metro area.
Colorado Springs New Homes Resource
Colorado Springs Homes Searches    Office: (719) 238-2311    Fax: (719) 633-6615    Email: Info@ColoradoHomeResource.net
Real Estate In Colorado Springs
New Homes Services
Home Page
Search ALL Homes
- Returning Members
New Homes
Build A New Home
Mortgage Center
FREE Market Analysis
Home Buyer Tips
Home Seller Tips

Colorado Home Resource
Meet CHR
Testimonials
Contact Us

Relocation Information
Relocation Package
Area Schools
Climate
Weather
Military Info
Things to Do

Real Estate Links
Military Index     Economic Impact     Movies & Pictures     Fort Carson
NORAD     Peterson AFB     Schriever AFB     USAFA

NORAD North American Aerospace Defense Command
The main entrance to the complex is approximately one-third of a mile from the North Portal via a tunnel which leads to a pair of steel Blast Doors each weighing 25 tons. Behind the 25-ton blast doors is a steel building complex built within a 4.5 acre grid of excavated chambers and tunnels and surrounded by 2,000 feet of granite. The main excavation consists of three chambers 45 feet wide, 60 feet high, and 588 feet long, intersected by four chambers 32 feet wide, 56 feet high and 335 feet long. Fifteen buildings, freestanding without contact with the rock walls or roofs and joined by flexible vestibule connections, make up the inner complex. Twelve of these buildings are three stories tall; the others are one and two stories.

The outer shell of the buildings is made of three-eighths-inch continuously welded low carbon steel plates which are supported by structural steel frames. Metal walls and tunnels serve to attenuate electromagnetic pulse (EMP). Metal doors at each building entrance serve as fire doors to help contain fire and smoke. Emphasis on the design of the structure is predicated on the effects of nuclear weapons; however, building design also makes it possible for the complex to absorb the shock of earthquakes.

Blast Valves, installed in reinforced concrete bulkheads, have been placed in the exhaust and air intake supply, as well as water, fuel, and sewer lines. Sensors at the North and South Portal entrances will detect overpressure waves from a nuclear explosion, causing the valves to close and protect the complex. All of the buildings in the complex are mounted on 1,319 steel springs, each weighing approximately 1,000 pounds. The springs allow the complex to move 12 inches in any one direction. To make the complex self-sufficient, adequate space in the complex is devoted to support functions. A dining facility, medical facility with dental office, pharmacy and a two-bed ward; two physical fitness centers with exercise equipment and sauna; a small base exchange, chapel, and barber shop are all located within the complex.

Within the complex are all the utility systems necessary to make the facility functional. The primary supply of electrical power is supplied by the City of Colorado Springs. The secondary source or back-up power supply is provided by six 1,750 kilowatt, 2,800 horse-powered diesel generators.

Water for the complex comes from an underground water supply inside Cheyenne Mountain. Today, 30,000 to 120,000 gallons of water is deposited into four excavated reservoirs. Three of these reservoirs serve as industrial reservoirs and the remaining reservoir serves as the complex’s primary domestic water source. All four reservoirs have the capacity to store 1.5 million gallons of water.

Incoming air may be filtered through a system of chemical/biological/radiological (CBR) filters to remove harmful germs and/or radioactive and chemical particles. The fresh air intake is mainly from the south portal access which is 17 ˝ feet high and 15 feet wide and linked to the north portal access which is 22 ˝ feet high and 29 feet wide. The entire tunnel from north to south entry portals is nine-tenths of a mile long.

Back to Norad Main

Real Estate Search Service
Colorado Springs Homes
Your Colorado Springs Homes Resource

".. This site is a complete Colorado Springs homes, real estate & relocation resources offered to a worldwide community."

" What a great homes research site, I would recommend it to anyone moving to the greater Colorado Springs area."

Email: Info@ColoradoHomeResource.net
Office: (719) 238-2311
Fax: (719) 633-6615
  Copyright 2005  Colorado Home Resource     Your Colorado Springs Homes Resource.
ALL information contained on the Colorado Springs homes and real estate website is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed and does not constitute an offer to sell. Please verify all information with Colorado Home Resource.