"Chicago files response to O'Hare challenge"

Thursday, October 6, 2005

Chicago files response to O'Hare challenge
The Associated Press


CHICAGO - The city of Chicago asked a federal appeals court Wednesday to
clear the way for a $15 billion makeover of O'Hare International Airport.

Construction was temporarily halted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia last Friday - just hours after the city got the
go-ahead from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The appeals court granted a stay while it considered opponents' emergency
motion to stop the project, which is designed to relieve chronic flight
delays by adding some runways, reconfiguring others and building another
terminal.

The city argued Wednesday that construction delays caused by the stay will
increase the project's cost, according to a statement from Mayor Richard
Daley's office.

The airport expansion would force about 2,600 people and nearly 200
businesses in the Chicago suburbs of Bensenville, Des Plaines and Elk Grove
Village to relocate.

Critics include a church that said the expansion would desecrate a cemetery
with 1,300 tombs dating to the 1800s.

When the project is done, O'Hare should be able to handle 1.2 million
landings and takeoffs annually, 300,000 more than now, the FAA said. Delays
would fall from 17.1 minutes to 5.8 minutes on average, FAA projections
show.


 Do you have an opinion about this story?
Share it with other readers in our CAA Discussion Forums

http://www.californiaaviation.org/dcfp/dcboard.php


*****************************************