Federal dollars are on the way for the design of a new air traffic control tower at O’Hare International Airport. But nothing is in the pipeline for a third airport that’s been long-proposed for the Chicago area.
Illinois U.S. Senator Dick Durbin said the recession has slowed down that discussion. “It’s changed because the expansion of communities and residences toward the south have slowed down. It slowed down because the state of the economy and the state of the real estate market,” said Durbin.
He said that makes getting private funding to build a third airport more challenging.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the priority for Illinois lawmakers has been high speed rail, roads, bridges and O’Hare. He said no one has talked to him about a third airport.
