U.S. Congressman calls South Suburban Airport plans 'wasteful'
U.S. Congressman, Don Manzullo, (R-IL) along with several Illinois state senators and representatives wrote a letter to Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn yesterday, urging him to stop wasting state funds on a new airport at Peotone in eastern Will County.
Advocating for a new airport has been long and costly for Illinois taxpayers
Despite Illinois' budget crisis, Quinn recently allocated another $100 million to the Peotone project.
Illinois taxpayers have shouldered the burden for ongoing feasilibity studies for a new airport since 1985 when a concept plan from twenty years prior, were envisioned. The latest allocation of taxpayer funds would include just the purchase of additional land. The state owns only about half of what would be needed to build a new airfield.
The estimated $5 billion project does not include any of the infrastructure that would be needed to turn a farming community into a metropolis, what would be needed to make an airport viable. The present landscape of the area proposed to house the Peotone airport contains farmsteads and historic farmsteads, which use well and septic systems. Tar and chip roads are far from that which could accommodate airport traffic or even heavy construction traffic.
Nearby towns and townships have long been on-the-record as being opposed to the construction of a new airport. Residents have fought the proposal since 1987.
In addition to opposition from the people who would live with a new airport, all of the major airlines have said they would not use an airport at Peotone.
Congressman Manzullo tells it like it is
"We believe it is unconscionable for the State of Illinois to continue to waste precious taxpayer resources on this unnecessary project as the state struggles with record budget deficits and debt," Manzullo wrote.
Citing last week's agreement between the major airlines and the City of Chicago to move forward on the O'Hare Modernization Program, the Rockford congressman said, "it is even more egregious and unnecessary for the state of Illinois to continue to spend scare taxpayer dollars on the South Suburban Airport (Peotone Airport) that the airlines have said they do not want or need."
Manzullo named Rockford as an alternative airport to Chicago's O'Hare and Midway airports. He reiterated the statement by the Illinois Department of Transportation, the same agency pushing the Peotone project, that the Chicago-Rockford International Airport, "RFD is the airport with the greatest potential for development of passenger service and the ability to maintain passenger service."
The existing RFD is the alternative to development at Peotone, he said, pointing out that RFD offers passenger air service now handles one million passengers. It can easily serve five million passengers per year.
While Peotone remains in the study phase, unapproved by the federal government , RFD has made more than $150 million in federally-funded capital improvements, including the construction of a 10,000-foot runway, net international terminal, and Category-III Instrument Landing System capable of accommodating any plan that flies.
In conclusion, Manzullo and state signatories—Sens. Dave Syverson, Tim Bivins, and Christine Johnson, along with State Reps. Jim Sacia, Joe Sosnowski, Dave Winters, and Robert Pritchard—asked Gov. Quinn to "abandon these wasteful plans at Peotone." They invited Quinn and Illinois Secretary of Transportation Gary Hannig to meet with them at RFD to see first-hand the potential that exists there.
