Peotone Airport - Backed by Feds (Chicago, Aurora: neighborhoods, move, metra)

[iidreamtheaterii]

Feds say Chicago can handle third airport at Peotone

Doubtful any of this (Illiana Expressway or Peotone Airport) will happen in the next 5 years. After the Illiana got put on hold, Peotone surely won't be able to get any triggers pulled. You need the infrastructure to support this sort of ordeal. Without a clear "easy way" of getting to the airport, there's no need to assume it ever make the money to support itself.

Personally, I think it's too bad Rauner got in when he did. It was pretty darn close to commencement on the Illiana. I was hopeful of these 2 projects getting a move on, seeing the economic benefits coming sooner than later (if ever). I think I'm in the minority here with as much anti-airport/anti-tollway people out there.

This is just one man's opinion.

[aga412]

Why put an airport in Peotone? What a bizarre place for an airport. If they're going to expand an airport, what they should do is expand the Aurora Airport to serve the western suburbs. South burbs can use Gary/Chicago.

[pvande55]

I doubt Peotone will ever be finished. And if it is, no airline will fly out of it. Illiana could be built with investor financing, as long as it is backed up with guarantees that taxpayers will pay off the bonds.

[MSchemist80]

Who would want to fly out of Peotone, an airport in the middle of a corn field over an hours dive from Chicago (44 miles) with no public transit.

[aga412]

Does anyone else think expanding Aurora (if one had to be expanded) would be a good idea? One could even try to lobby BNSF to extend the Metra line out to Sugar Grove to serve it.

[MSchemist80]

Any place at the end of one of the major metra lines such as Aurora would be preferable to Peotone. Peotone makes absolutely no sense. They might as well put it in Sandwitch or Union.

[MSchemist80]

For that matter why don't they just take one of the blighted areas of the South or West sides of Chicago, bulldoze it, and make it into an airport.

[OccidentExpress]

Originally Posted by MSchemist80

For that matter why don't they just take one of the blighted areas of the South or West sides of Chicago, bulldoze it, and make it into an airport.

I'm sure a major factor in the choice of location was the fact that airline traffic can be routed over those 'undesirable' neighborhoods. They certainly aren't going to build an airport in a location that negatively affects their neighborhoods.

[iidreamtheaterii]

Illiana Expressway hits another setback

Surely there will be no airport for quite some time. Just keeping people informed!

[RH3Flatlander]

Peotone actually makes quite a bit of sense. Will County has been the fastest growing county in the MSA for quite some time now and the airport would be able to serve the burgeoning southland market in addition to NW Indiana (close to 1 million people). An airport would undoubtedly spur industrial, commercial, and perhaps some residential expansion toward Peotone to infill the gap in suburban sprawl, however, even without the impetus of an airport, Peotone is hardly a lengthy drive for people in the Southland anyway.

Think of it this way. O'Hare will continue to be the region's alpha airport and the preferred airport for north suburbanites. Midway will continue to serve its niche Southwest market. An airport in the Southland provides a more convenient option to those in Chicagoland's fastest growing sub-region. For those in Western DuPage/Fox River Valley, the choice to travel from O'Hare and Peotone will be marginal considering traffic dwell time savings that the route to Peotone would provide. You are sort of in an in between situation because of O'Hare's gravitational pull with the north suburbs and the new demand for a decent domestic travel option in the Southland.