42 communities and 19 school districts dedicated to reducing aircraft noise in the communities around O’Hare International Airport since 1996.

Planes at O'Hare airport

  • The Northern Runway 9 Left/27 Right is aligned east-west and is used mainly for arrivals.
  • The runway is 7,500 feet long and 150 feet wide.
  • The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) projects the runway and the extension of a southern runway will reduce flight delays from 16.2 minutes on average to 15.5 minutes.
  • The Runway is a Group 5 Category II/III Runway designed for planes as large as the 747.
  • The Runway is intended mainly to be used for narrow body small to medium sized aircraft. These include the Airbus A318, A319, A320, the MD-80, the DC-9 and the Boeing 727, 737, and 757.
  • The Northern Control Tower is operational from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Residents should not experience late night flight traffic.
  • The 65 DNL (Day/Night) noise contour for the runway, which is just south of Touhy Avenue at O'Hare's north end, will extend from the edge of the airport east past the Tri-State Tollway to Dee Road.
  • A long-term portable monitor is currently deployed in the area of the arrival path of the northern Runway to pick up all air traffic events. The decibels levels for each flight are being recorded. In the near future, this monitor will be replaced with a permanent one on City of Park Ridge property, again on the flight path. There are three additional permanent monitors in Park Ridge.
  • Over $38.5 million has been expended on the School Sound Insulation Program on Park Ridge schools. Maine South High School was already sound-insulated several years ago, at a cost of over $3.5 million. The one pending school in the area of the Northern Runway that still is awaiting funding is Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School.

Additional Links:
Northern Runway FAQs

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