O'Hare Neighbors To Get Some Noise Relief, Aviation Commissioner Says
(CBS) -- People living around O'Hare Airport may be close to getting relief from the ear-splitting sound of planes.
But CBS 2's Jim Williams reports not everyone in those communities has faith in the city's new plan.
A simple conversation outside Mary Larsen's home in Bensenville can be difficult to hear.
Every 30 seconds, a plane taking off from O'Hare flies over the Larsen home.
With the wind blowing in the opposite direction, toward the neighborhood Larsen says Thursday was worse.
"You couldn't be on the phone. You couldn't even talk to the people coming by because it was so loud," Larsen said Friday.
With families like the Larsens in mind, the Chicago Aviation Department has a new noise-reduction plan.
At night, new Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans says, runways will be rotated so noise isn't always in one part of the airport.
"We've met the objective of spreading the noise," Evans says.
New runaways would spread the noise as well. And new technology would allow planes to fly higher.
Jim Argionis of the group Fair Allocation in Runways calls it a good start but wants diagonal runways to reduce noise.
The city says diagonal runways are unsafe. Mary Larsen isn't holding her breath waiting for a solution.
"Chicago does want they want to do," she says.
Actually, Chicago cannot go at it alone. The O'Hare Noise Compatibility Commission will weigh in, and the FAA has to sign off.
Bensenville Village President Frank Soto tells CBS 2 it's all a "work in progress."