Quote:
Originally Posted by ardecila
I can see Peotone as a good site for a cargo airport, actually. It makes little sense as a major passenger airport, but getting cargo carriers to move to Will County would free capacity at O'Hare for additional passenger growth. Plus, it would allow for some redevelopment of the massive industrial parks of Elk Grove Village, Franklin Park, and Northlake, which are about to get sliced'n'diced by the Elgin-O'Hare anyway.
I dunno, I guess I have a lot fewer issues with exurban industrial development than exurban residential development, since industrial development has a monolithic scale that seems appropriate to the vast open spaces and 1-mile grid of the Midwestern countryside. It also removes pollution generators like truck traffic and factories from population centers closer in. I've also historically noticed that industrial employers are far more likely to work with Pace to provide transit services than office employers. Finally, many of the jobs created in a Will County industrial park would be stable low-income jobs that would benefit the people living in South Cook County and actually shortening their commute in practical terms, since many of them must currently travel congested roads to reach the the O'Hare area or the I-88/I-90 corridors.
Oh, and the I-80 corridor is quite possibly one of the busiest roads in the country in terms of truck volume. A Peotone airport would pull those trucks off of the Tri-State going to O'Hare and put them instead onto 55 and 57, which seems to be a better use of existing capacity.
|
Yes, yes yes. I agree with everything you said. Major distribution centers and intermodal facilities are already flocking to Will County because of the cheap land and transportation access to existing rail and interstate highways. This why I have been saying in the past that this airport only makes sense as a cargo airport. If a passenger carrier sees a viability in providing service there, then fine let them do it; but lets not waste taxpayer money gambling on whether or not passenger service will take off there (no pun intended) because that has not happened at Gary or Rockford even with subsidies. If there are cargo carriers willing to fly there, and if the railroads want to build more intermodal facilities to serve the new airport, then lets do it.
Regarding UP's new facility in Will County; I went past there on a Amtrak Train one month ago and the rail spurs are already in place.