So what’s the Dope on the 3rd airport? Is it ever going to be built?
They’re still doing plans and environmental studies. They just completed an airport layout planlast September. According to the news release then, they’d completed a little less than half of the property acquisition they need, and there was another small property deal in December.
Meanwhile, the FAA reports a slight decline in flight operations at O’Hare from 2010-2012, while traffic at Midway has been more or less unchanged, so I don’t think Peotone is particularly high on the state’s list of priorities.
I’m sorry, but how do you pronounce that?
Or did you mean this?
Handy guide for future reference.
If an airport in Peotone is supposed to off-load the burden at O’Hare, it makes no sense at all. Fifty percent of the passengers landing at O’Hare get on another plane and leave O’Hare. They aren’t coming to Chicago or anywhere else in Illinois; they are just connecting. Another airport a hundred miles away isn’t going to do them any good at all.
Well, if they’re only connecting, they wouldn’t care that it’s out in the cornfields. Of course, historically, building an airport out in the cornfields to alleviate congestion doesn’t always work out that well.
Not to defend Mid-America Airport, but it’s about the same distance from downtown St. Louis as O’Hare is from the Loop. Either one of them is just a stone’s throw compared to Peotone.
Thanks for the replies. I know it’s been forever that this has been on the table. Since the State is already doing the Eminent Domain thing, and private security patrols the fields there, I just wish it would either get built already (jobs), or just announce that it ain’t gonna happen (country homes).
They’ll care if they land in Peotone and the plane they want to get on is at O’Hare. The whole point of a connection-driven airport is to have ONE big one.
Ah, the computerized speech synthesizer got it wrong. The second syllable should be a schwa, so more like PEE-uh-tone.
I’ve long thought Peotone the dumbest idea going. Every time I see a Peotone exit as I’m driving along my immediate thought is “Who the heck would want to drive all the way out here for a flight?”
Someone told me w/in the last yr that the plan was to use Peotone for freight, increasing O’Hare’s capacity for passengers - but I have no idea whether that has any factual basis.
ISTR discussing this w/ Broomstick in the past, but what really appeals to me is the use of existing airports in Gary/Milwaukee/Rockford to relieve O’Hare congestion. Gary would be especially appealing given the proximity to Chicago, existing rail, and revitalization of the area. Heck - maybe incorporate highspeed hovercraft service to Chicago… 