O'HARE — Complaints about jet noise rose from March to April as residents of the Far Northwest Side continued to blanket city officials with complaints about the racket made by planes using the newest east-west runway at O'Hare Airport.
In April, 408,468 complaints were filed with city officials — an all-time record and a more than 15 percent increase from the number of jet noise complaints filed in March, according to data released by the O'Hare Noise Compatibility Commission.
The tally of complaints includes those logged through chicagonoisecomplaint.com, which was designed by Darrin Thomas, a member of the Fair Allocation in Runways Coalition, to allow angry residents to log their anger with one click, rather than fill out the city's long form.
Of the total number of complaints filed in April, 46 percent were made from 12 addresses, according to the commission. Approximately 14.5 percent of the 126,094 complaints filed by Chicago residents in April were filed from five addresses, according to the commission.
Approximately 42,160 people filed noise complaints in April, a 42 percent increase, according to the commission.
From Chicago, 27,946 people filed complaints, an increase of approximately 19 percent from March to April, according to the commission.
Source: O'Hare Noise Compatibility Commission [DNAinfo/Tanveer Ali]
Complaints can be made by calling a 24-hour hotline — 800-435-9569 — or submitting an online form.
In October 2013, a new east-west runway opened as part of the $8.7 billion O'Hare Modernization Program, sending hundreds of flights over areas of the Northwest Side like North Park, Jefferson Park Edgebrook, Edison Park and Norwood Park that previously heard little or no jet noise in previous years.
Flight patterns at O'Hare are designed to ensure the airport operated as efficiently and safely as possible, federal aviation officials said.
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