Governor Bruce Rauner on Thursday signed into law a bill that will help bring relief to thousands of Illinoisans who are enduring excessive noise pollution generated by low-flying planes near O’Hare Airport.
SB636, now Public Act 99-0202, permits O’Hare Airport to increase the number of operational runways from eight to ten, which will provide for the use of four diagonal runways that produce less noise over surrounding communities. “When O’Hare realigned their runways in 2013, homeowners who were previously only minimally affected suddenly had to deal with rattling windows and extremely excessive noise any time a plane flew overhead,” said State Representative Michael McAuliffe (R-Chicago), a Chief Co-Sponsor of the bill in the House of Representatives. “This new law allows for the use of six parallel and four diagonal runways at the same time. The use of the diagonal runways produces significantly less noise pollution over nearby neighborhoods.” Read more.