Nov. 20--More than 45,000 people will be adversely affected by jet noise if the runway expansion project at O'Hare International Airport is completed, according to a new analysis released Thursday that said Chicago and the Federal Aviation Administration severely understated how many residents would be significantly disturbed.
The study also said that the number of nighttime flights will be almost double what the FAA estimated in assessing the environmental impact of the $10 billion O'Hare overhaul.
Aviation consultants and former FAA air traffic controllers at O'Hare who were hired by the Suburban O'Hare Commission to conduct the research are scheduled to present their findings Friday at a meeting with Chicago Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans, officials said.
The commission's team of experts will ask city officials to implement up to 20 strategies to mitigate noise and disperse it over wider areas.
The proposals include requiring the use of at least two runways for departing flights between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. to help spread out jet noise, regardless of the number of flights scheduled, and developing a more aggressive "fly quiet" program during overnight hours.
Another priority in the analysis is to continue using O'Hare's diagonal runways, which currently are being lightly utilized because five out of six planned east-west parallel runways have been opened since 2008. O'Hare officials plan to demolish two of the airport's four diagonals.
"O'Hare is big and it is getting bigger. We are not fighting that battle any longer. But the noise impact is going to be far greater than what is being said. We just want to minimize it as much as possible," Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson, who is also chairman of the Suburban O'Hare Commission, told the Tribune on Thursday.
The results and recommendations are being reviewed by the city, a spokesman for Evans said Thursday, declining to address any specifics.
The FAA did not respond to a Tribune inquiry.
The city spokesman, Owen Kilmer, pointed out that in July, Evans released a 24-point conceptual plan that included revamping the city's voluntary fly-quiet program and rotating on a weekly or perhaps monthly basis the runways that are used at night. Details have not been provided yet so it's unclear whether the FAA would approve the changes.
Almost 3 million noise complaints have been filed with a city-run hot line and website through September of this year, according to the city. The number of complaints have soared from about 268,000 during all of last year and about 29,000 in 2013, records show. The spike comes in the wake of a change in flight patterns at O'Hare in late 2013. The vast majority of flights now operate in westerly and easterly directions.
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