MIDWAY — In the last three months, the Chicago Department of Aviation received 30,220 noise complaints about planes flying in and out of Midway International Airport.
Only 834 of those complaints came from Chicago. Almost 28,000 of them came from two suburbs outside city limits.
That’s according the department’s third quarter report, released Thursday night at the Midway Noise Compatibility Commission’s third quarter meeting.
Here’s how the complaints broke down: In Brookfield, 16 people made 23,427 noise complaints. In Justice, 3,420 complaints came from one address.
Those suburban complaints are likely due to an increase in departures and arrivals on runway 13C, according to Jeffrey Jackson, an aviation planner with Landrum & Brown.
Due to a construction project that shut down several runways, more planes were landing on 13C, putting planes in the air over those suburbs.
Since February 2014, airplanes have been traveling on a new federally approved flight path, one that guides jets from Lake Michigan to Midway's Runway 22L. Planes are generally supposed to follow Interstate 55.
City data shows 18,703 complaints were made concerning Midway noise in the first quarter of this year, which covers January through March. The increase is astounding compared to the first quarter of 2015, when 2,277 were logged.
In the second quarter of 2016, there were 35,640 complaints filed — but the Chicago Department of Aviation notes in its report that 97 percent of those complaints came from two addresses.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
