GLENVIEW
With only two northeast to southwest diagonal runways remaining (4L/22R and 4R/22L), many municipalities northeast and southwest of O’Hare are overwhelmed with jet noise from departing and arriving commercial and cargo flights. Moreover, during extreme weather (particularly with cross-winds), the 4L/22R and 4R/22L diagonals are the only runways operated due to two factors: 1) the parallel runways are unsafe to land and depart planes under dangerously high north/south wind conditions, and 2) O’Hare’s two former southeast to northwest diagonals (14L/32R and 14R/32L) were decommissioned within the last two years. Two of the most impacted municipalities are Park Ridge and Elmhurst. The Village of Glenview (particularly its central portion) is now severely impacted by air and noise pollution as a result of the two remaining diagonal flight paths. The noise map below illustrates the impact with blue dots representing relative complaints; the diagonal flight paths are noted with black broken lines.)
Glenview is located less than six miles from the northeast border of O’Hare, represents an area of about fourteen square miles and is home to over 47,000 residents. Like Park Ridge, Glenview ranks as one of the highest median household income municipalities in the State of Illinois. There are five elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school directly under or adjacent to the two diagonal flight paths. The Central Business District is located at Glenview Road and Harlem/Lehigh; and there are eleven parks (two with pools) and two public golf courses impacted by the flight paths.
Glenview residents under these diagonal flight paths currently experience jet noise in the range of 65 – 85 decibels. (65 decibels is considered an ‘unhealthy’ threshold). These residents experience sustained general annoyance, stress, sleep disturbance, and impaired cognitive performance.
Finally, Glenview residents logged almost 10k complaints for 2017. In October 2017, residents logged their greatest number of complaints at 2,845; the highest figure ever recorded in Glenview’s history. In comparison, the monthly complaint average for 2012 was 1!
