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Back to the 60s
July 29, 2005
O’Hare Airport in Chicago is about to undergoe some big changes. A proposed $15 billion is going to be spent to add runways and improve the terminals. Why? Because O’Hare had the nation’s worst flight delay’s last year (according to this article).
Take a look at the Google map below (what would I do without Google?). You can see that the areas around O’Hare are established neighborhoods and commercial areas. There is little space for new runways and the like. The article doesn’t discuss the costs, but I’d imagine that the large price tag is due in large part to the cost of acquiring land around the airport. Chicago is going for its own new kind of urban renewal project here - destroying established areas in the name of one big project.
Personally, I don’t think this needs to be done. Why not expand another one of the airports around the area? One that might have the room. Why not get the airlines to promote travel through their other hubs. And, more speculation on my part, but I’d bet that the $15 billion cost will mostly be fronted by government, not the airlines and the travelers who use them. Who then will this be benefiting? Can’t we use the money for something else (or not at all - leave it with the taxpayers!)?
Posted by paul at July 29, 2005 08:21 AM
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