BY TERRIE HENDERSON, Times of Northwest Indiana
thenderson@nwitimes.com
Will the proposed Abraham Lincoln National Airport in unincorporated Will County become a reality?
It depends on who you ask.
Rick Bryant, spokesman for U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., said there has been talk of creating a south suburban airport in Illinois near the Indiana state line since the late 1960s.
But the need for a third regional Illinois airport to join O'Hare International Airport and Midway Airport became increasingly apparent in 1984, when the Federal Aviation Administration ruled there would be no room for future expansions at O'Hare, Bryant said.
Many local Illinois leaders believe the proposed south suburban airport will bring new development and jobs into the region, but residents who live in the footprint do not want to see their homes destroyed for an airport.
At the same time, others say Chicago already has a "third airport" just 25 minutes from downtown capable of relieving the crush at O'Hare and Midway. This is Gary/Chicago International Airport in Gary, Ind.
The Gary airport has struggled to keep commercial airline service. But proponents say a project to lengthen the main runway from 7,000 to 9,000 feet and remove a rail line at its northwest end will remedy that.
The runway expansion at the Gary airport should be completed in three years. In the meantime, the airport continues to aggressively seek a passenger airline, with the names of Delta Air Lines and Allegiant Air some of the most recent to surface. The airport lost passenger service when Hooters Air stopped flying in January.
The airport has a key ally in Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, who is one of those aggressively promoting the Gary airport as Chicago's third airport. Passenger facility charges from O'Hare and Midway will pay part of the cost of the runway expansion.
The expansion at Gary's airport "really has no impact on the airport we are planning to build," Bryant said. "Gary will never expand to the size of the airport we are talking about."
Bryant said he is confident that plans will continue moving forward for the proposed Abraham Lincoln National Airport.
As the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) works to complete an airport layout plan to submit to the FAA, Jackson's office and the Abraham Lincoln National Airport Commission (ALNAC) are working to get Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to commit to their airport plan.
ALNAC has spent about $245,000 in a media campaign aimed at putting public pressure on Blagojevich to support the south suburban airport, Bryant said.
Will County residents still living in the footprint of the proposed airport -- 38 families -- have vowed not to sell their land, said Jim Verduin, president of Footprint Residents Against Mandatory Eminent Domain.
And Illinois state Sen. Debbie Halvorson, who supports the idea of constructing a south suburban airport, said no legislation will pass until officials can agree on how to create a developmental district around the airport.
Matt Vanover, spokesman for IDOT, said the state has purchased about 1,900 acres for the inaugural footprint of the airport. That is about half of what is needed to begin the project, he said.
Still, Bryant said construction of this proposed airport could begin in 18 months.
"We are just one signature away from building an airport. That is the governor's signature," Bryant said.
Several calls to Blagojevich's office seeking comment were not returned.
Vanover said the state must still submit an airport layout plan and an airport master plan to the FAA.
After the state submits the airport layout plan to the FAA, the FAA must conduct an in-depth environmental study to see what effect the proposed airport would have on the environment, said Tony Molinaro, FAA spokesman for the Great Lakes region.
Vanover said no time frame could be given on when the next document will be submitted to the FAA.
Molinaro said the FAA has not started to assess what the environmental impact would be and cannot determine that without seeing the key documents. He said the environmental impact analysis would entail a large amount of work, but could not say how long it would take.
Bryant said IDOT was supposed to submit the airport layout plan to the FAA in April 2005. He said the environmental study will take about 18 months.
One reason the documents have not been submitted to the FAA is that state officials and the airport commission cannot agree on how to build the proposed airport around Black Walnut Creek, Bryant said.
Bryant said ALNAC's plan puts the taxi-way, or the road that connects the terminal to the runway, over the creek. He said the IDOT plan has a roadway over the creek.
Bryant said while the FAA is conducting the environmental study, the state could be proceeding with land acquisition. He said ALNAC could also set up the necessary utilities at that time.
But that will not happen if Blagojevich does not agree to lease the land to ALNAC or allow ALNAC to cosponsor the airport, he said.