Flying Out of ORD ...

... the construction unfolds at O’Hare below as the airliner lifts off. A man’s mind turns to … airports. And whatever happened to Chicago’s third airport, at Peotone (or wherever)? No sooner asked than answered by Chicago Tribune reporter Joel Hood, who relates that the State of Illinois has “set aside” $100 million to get the project moving. Says the story, “For airport supporters, the money signals that Governor Pat Quinn is serious about acquiring the remaining 2,000 acres needed in southern Will County to build a third major airport for the Chicago region. No sooner had the governor signed the bill than state officials began fielding calls from landowners near Peotone seeking to cash in, said Susan Shea, director of aeronautics for the Illinois Department of Transportation. “I tell them that I've already got appraisers ready and out looking at properties,” Shea said. ‘All of a sudden, people are starting to realize that this is going to happen.’" That’s significant because two major obstacles holding up Peotone were local landowners and politics. Chicago’s third airport was put on hold in the ‘90s because Mayor Daley had come up with a new plan – rebuilding O’Hare – and opposing Peotone. President Clinton and Mr. Daley were allies. Interestingly, Mayor Daley had previously fought hard for a third Chicago airport, at the Lake Calumet site near Indiana. It was heavily polluted from the steel mill era; the feds said no. A group of serious investors sought to privately build Peotone, a la Branson, but never seriously got off the ground. And Mr. Daley’s father, Mayor Richard J., at one time pushed hard for a third Chicago airport … in Lake Michigan. Today, President Obama’s Chicago home isn’t that far north of Peotone, which sits in Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr.’s (D-IL) district. Rep. Jackson is perhaps the strongest proponent of the new airport, and his argument gets legs when one considers that the current search for jobs in Chicagoland is rough. Daley and Obama are allies, certainly; but apparently the politics don’t add up to the same result today. The fate of this project has always hinged on Washington. If there was one thing I learned about Chicago while growing up there, it was that the region was a transportation hub. That was its core strength – the railroads; the airports; the highways … the infrastructure. Driving down I-55 the other day was a ‘highway between distribution centers’ experience. The third Chicago airport has always seemed like a natural progression. Thanks for reading. jfi