Abraham Lincoln National Airport

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Abraham Lincoln National Airport is a proposed airport in Peotone, Illinois. The airport would serve as an additional airport in the Chicago metro area. Supporters of the airport think it will bring new jobs to the southern suburbs of Chicago, while relieving critical runway and terminal congestion at O'Hare International Airport and Chicago Midway International Airport. A new airport would accommodate larger jet service that Midway Airport can't offer. Critics believe the airport would be a failure like MidAmerica St. Louis Airport, and that expanding O'Hare, or other regional airports like General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Chicago/Rockford International Airport in Rockford, Illinois, or Gary/Chicago International Airport in Gary, Indiana which is closer to Chicago than Peotone (or the other airports), and is undergoing federally funded and FAA approved expansion. The Gary Airport already covers more land than Chicago Midway International Airport and after expansion will cover double the current land. Relatively all land to be acquired in Gary is vacant.

Politicians opposing the Peotone airport plan include Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, former Gary Mayor Scott King, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, and Rep. Peter Visclosky.

[edit] Historical beginning of the proposed airport (1967 - 2007)

Professor Stanley Burge of Northwest University gave birth to the Peotone airport site during an economic summit on November 14, 1968. His main argument for the proposed land site was mobility and access to the airport. Professor Burge envisioned a high- speed train service to downtown Chicago.

The Peotone site was an alternative location to a proposed lake site announced during Mayor Richard M. Daley’s 1967 inaugural speech, just one of many projects proposed, including a Red Line Expansion. The Chicago Public Works and Aviation Department worked cohesively with the Federal Aviation Administration during the Kennedy administration from January 1967 to January 1970 to develop a litany of needed consultant reports beginning with an appraisal report, a summary of engineering reports, and graphic simulation studies for both a land and lake site. On January 27, 1970, Mayor Daley shelved plans for the third airport, stating, “It was not necessary until year 2000.”

Following fifteen years of investment at O’Hare Airport and Midway Airport in the early 70’s, the north urban airport became a strain for the north central suburbs of the Cook County in the mid 80’s. State Legislatures from north suburban Cook and DuPage counties applied political pressure to control expansion of O’Hare. House and Senate legislatures tried three times to pass a Metropolitan Airport Authority bill from 1985 to 1987, in an effort to alleviate airspace noise and pollution from the urban airport. Legislatures compromised on a resolution, which awarded $500,000 for a transportation study for the proposed 3rd Chicago airport.

In 1986, state legislation created the Illinois Airport System Plan Policy Commission (IASPPC). The commission had bi-partisan and bi-state support from Governors of Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. Commissioners chose consultant Peat Marwick to develop the aviation studies. The first capacity study concluded that neither, O’Hare or Midway could meet the expanding aviation market, and recommended a supplemental airport be built. South Cook Senator-R Angelo DeAngelis of Olympia Fields advocated for the Peotone site DeAngelies stated, “Economic considerations would override political ones in choosing a location during a Chicago Tribune interview.

Four months following the election of Mayor Richard M. Daley in August 1989, the Lake Calumet site was submitted by Daley as an alternative site to the IASPPC. By February 5, 1990, Mayor Daley released a feasibility study for the Lake Calumet Site which indicated that the $5 billion cost to construct the airport would be partially funded by a passenger facility charge which would generate $1.8 billion. Federal legislation sealed the passenger facility charges on August 2, 1990 in the 101st congress 2nd session through H.R. 5170.

Nearly 2 million people in 66 municipalities and villages live in south Cook and north central Cook, which are directly impacted both positively and negatively of an urban airport. Land restrictions of an urban airport had taken its toll on some of the members of the North Central Council of Mayors. They began the first suburban Cook coalition from the, a portion of the North Central Council of Mayors through their development of the Suburban O'Hare Commission. Along with the South Suburban Council of Mayors and the Southwest Council of Mayors, consultant reports show negative impacts.

However, it appears the passenger facility charges sealed its fate in the selection process. PSF was a fundamentally brilliant way to bring in the revenues needed for an infrastructure of that magnitude. The City of Chicago also acquired three seats on the IASPPC, bringing the total to eleven. Political pressure by the City of Chicago ended in IASPPC members voting to eliminate all rural sites from final vote. The final vote selection was between Gary Airport and Lake Calumet. IASSPPC member, Senator DeAngelis gave an emotional speech “that attacked the process and political pressure placed on the committee.”

Following the selection of the Lake Calumet site, Mayor Daley attempted to put a legislative bill through fast track during the end of session. The cost of the Lake Calumet site was $10.8 billion. Senate President Pate Phillips did not support the bill because it left the state of Illinois footing $2 billion of the cost. It took four tries in the House before reaching the Senate. By July 1992, Mayor Daley declared the airport issue “dead.”

[edit] See also

MidAmerica St. Louis Airport - Civil portion of a dual use military facility near Belleville, Illinois constructed to alleviate crowding of Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, but has never had service from any major airline.