Battle lines drawn over expanding Chicago's O'Hare

Battle lines drawn over expanding Chicago's O'Hare
Reuters, 02.13.04, 5:21 PM ET

By Karen Pierog

CHICAGO, Feb 13 (Reuters) - The world's busiest airport may get even
busier -- but not if a group of detractors has its way.

The proposed multibillion-dollar expansion of runways at Chicago's O'Hare
International Airport has been the subject of lawsuits and allegations of
sweetheart deals mainly by the mayors of suburbs that stand to lose property
to the project.

The mayors have enlisted religious groups to protect two cemeteries in the
path of the project and also to put together a coalition to try to build a
competing airport from scratch in Peotone, Illinois, 35 miles southwest of
Chicago.

Meanwhile, major airlines and business leaders are backing Mayor Richard
Daley's vision of a reconfigured and bigger O'Hare that will no longer cause
rippling delays throughout the U.S. air traffic system.

Craig Johnson, mayor of Elk Grove Village, which hugs the western edge of
O'Hare, said his ongoing battle is a struggle for his suburb's very
existence that may also ultimately save the airport from becoming a "white
elephant."

COSTS TO BALLOON?

The reason is the cost of the runway expansion -- $6.6 billion in 2001
dollars. Johnson contends that final costs, when all is done, could balloon
to $20 billion. Chicago recently released a master plan for the airport that
pegged the costs of new runways, along with separate plans for new terminals
and normal capital projects, at $14.8 billion over 20 years.

That price tag will force the airport to drastically hike fees charged to
airlines to pay off billions of dollars of bonds that will be sold, he said.

"How can O'Hare function if it charges three to four times more than other
airports?" Johnson said, pointing to the trend of low-cost airlines that
cannot afford high airport fees.

But Chicago aviation officials argue total capital spending planned for the
airport through 2022 will keep O'Hare's cost per enplaned passenger in the
middle of the pack, compared with other major U.S. airports. They also
stressed that projects will proceed only if airlines agree and if investors
are willing to purchase the airport's bonds.

The city's immediate plan is to add a new runway, relocate or extend
existing runways, construct a new terminal and create a western access to
the airport. Chicago officials say that project will generate 195,000 new
jobs and pump $18 billion into the local economy.

Other project benefits cited by the city include expected dramatic
improvements in weather-related flight delays by implementing a parallel,
largely nonintersecting runway system. The estimated savings would be $380
million a year for consumers and about $370 million a year for airlines.

Most of O'Hare's major carriers, including United, a unit of UAL Corp., and
American, a unit of AMR Corp., have signed onto Mayor Daley's initial $2.9
billion financing phase for the runway project.

Johnson, whose Suburban O'Hare Commission has hired teams of aviation
experts to scrutinize plans for the airport, said many of the projects
within the master plan are dependent on each other. That makes total costs
excessive, while benefits, such as increased traffic and decreased delays,
are below any threshold for the Federal Aviation Administration to approve.

Johnson said his Elk Grove Village community, which has spent millions of
dollars on the O'Hare battle, supports some of the plan as long as it does
not encroach on its borders.

"Build what you want on your property, just don't do it at our expense," he
said. His town could lose as many as 500 businesses in its commercial park,
which generates 85 cents of every dollar the suburb collects in taxes, he
said. Bensenville, another western suburb, stands to lose 500 homes.

Chicago's plan would point three runways at the heart of Elk Grove's
residential section, heightening concerns about safety and quality of life,
Johnson said.

O'HARE PROJECT MIRRORS OTHER AIRPORTS

Rosemarie Andolino, who heads the O'Hare project for Chicago, said the city
was confident the FAA would only approve a "safe and efficient airport." She
added that plans for O'Hare mirrored projects the FAA has approved at other
airports, such as Atlanta and Dallas Fort Worth.

Something has to be done at O'Hare as far as FAA officials are concerned.

They recently highlighted problems created nationwide by congestion at
O'Hare, saying that only 60 percent of flights departing from there in
November arrived at their destination on time.

As a result, American and United, which account for most of the traffic out
of O'Hare, agreed to a 5 percent decrease in the number of takeoffs and
landings between 1 and 8 p.m. for six months, starting in March.

FAA officials blamed the congestion on lack of runway space at O'Hare.

"We've got to plan for the long-term future of O'Hare," said FAA
Administrator Marion Blakey, adding that the FAA has the city's
modernization plan, as well as plans for the south suburban airport under
review.

Copyright 2004, Reuters News Service

http://www.forbes.com/newswire/2004/...tr1261052.html

--
MST3K Info Club #94931

Goliath & Wildwing's Storage Room
http://anatidae.homestead.com/

james_anatidae wrote:
Johnson said his Elk Grove Village community, which has spent millions of
dollars on the O'Hare battle, supports some of the plan as long as it does
not encroach on its borders.

I think we need a new approach to the NIMBY people.

Anyone who wants to complain about an airport that was built before they
moved to within 10 miles of it will have to sign an irrevocable document
affirming that they will never fly, order goods for airmail delivery, or
welcome visitors who arrived by air. Once they have done this and made
arrangements for compliance monitoring, they will be allowed to submit their
objections.

miguel
--
Hundreds of travel photos from around the world: http://travel.u.nu/