By CRAIG SANDERS
A reporter for the Mattoon Journal Gazette
he has an M.A. in political science from
Sangamon State University. Serving an
internship with the Senate minority staff
Sanders worked for the Appropriations Committee, and the St. Louis
Metropolitan Airport Authority was one of his assignments.
Nine years of conflicting recommendations and lobbying have blocked construction of airport
SOMEDAY YOU MAY be able to fly to St. Louis without ever leaving Illinois. After nine years of conflicting recommendations and intense lobbying, the federal Department of Transportation has finally approved the construction of a major airport in Illinois to serve the St. Louis metropolitan region. But don't start buying your tickets. As expected, Missouri interests have filed a lawsuit to block construction of the. airport and overturn the decision of the U.S. secretary of transportation in favor of the Illinois application. Although the initial ruling handed down by the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. on November 17 was against the Missouri suit, the Missouri interests have vowed to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals and could presumably appeal all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Ironically, the proposal to build the new airport in Illinois originated not in Illinois but in St. Louis. Studies prepared for the city showed that by 1980 the existing airport would be saturated with planes and passengers. These same studies indicated the closest sites to St. Louis for a new airport were all in Illinois. St. Louis then approached the late Illinois Gov. Otto Kerner about the state's willingness to share in the costs of building a new airport in Illinois.
Kerner and his successor Samuel Shapiro supported the project, but it wasn't until the administration of Richard Ogilvie that Illinois became heavily involved. Ogilvie proposed and the General Assembly approved the formation of an agency, the St. Louis Metropolitan Airport Authority, to pursue the airport project. The agency, which was first organized in October 1970, filed an application with the federal government in early 1972 for permission to build the new airport on a 18.6 thousand acre tract near the towns of Columbia and Waterloo. The cost was estimated at $351 million.
The proposed airport was immediately opposed by the State of Missouri which countered by creating its own airport authority, the Missouri-St.Louis Metropolitan Airport Authority, to push for a new airport on a Missouri site. For the next four years the Illinois application languished while public hearings were held, consultants' reports were filed and political wrangling continued.
One political casualty was St. Louis Mayor Alfonso Cervantes, who had pushed hard for the Illinois site. Cervantes was defeated in the 1973 Democratic mayoral primary by anti-Illinois airport candidate John Poelker. Upon his election as mayor in the general election, Poelker announced the City of St. Louis would no longer support the Illinois airport application.
But in the end it was probably technical rather than political reasons that tipped the balance in favor of Illinois. Lambert Field, the existing St. Louis airport, contains only about 1,600 acres and is hemmed in on all sides by residential and industrial development. There is no room for expansion. By way of comparison, Chicago's O'Hare airport handles as many passengers now as Lambert is expected to handle by the late 1980's. O'Hare, however, contains 9,000 acres, seven major runways, and has parallel runways that allow for simultaneous landings and takeoffs. Lambert, on the other hand, only has one major runway, lacks parallel runway operational capabilities, and has a much smaller terminal than O'Hare.
For Illinois the benefits of the new airport will be tremendous. Many new businesses will locate in the vicinity of the airport creating jobs and providing tax revenues. The cost, however, has gone up since 1972. The airport is now expected to cost about $500 million with some critics contending the final figure will be $1 billion. Furthermore, although the federal government will pay most of the cost, Illinois will have to pick up the rest. Missouri has no obligation to contribute to the funding.
The airport will require a minimum of 10 years to build, and no new airport in recent times has been completed on time. In announcing his decision last September, Transportation Secretary William T. Coleman, Jr., added a stipulation that could push back the completion date. Coleman said the airport could not become operational until 1992 even if it's completed before then, unless Missouri and Illinois agree to establish a bi-state authority to run the new airport. Such an authority would not be unprecedented; the Bi-State Development Agency currently operates the greater St. Louis mass transit system in both Illinois and Missouri.
In one of his last acts Secretary Coleman approved release of federal funds to begin land acquisition for the new airport site, an action Missouri interests charged was taken to "lock in" the decision in favor of the new airport. Days later, the Transportation Department admitted St. Louis was one of three previously unnamed cities in a federal report listed as not necessarily needing new airports. The report said the existing airports could handle the expected traffic with certain operation changes.
A February 9 ruling by the U.S. District Court went against the Missouri interests when the judge refused to overrule Coleman's decision. The St. Louis Metropolitan Airport Authority may begin the process of land acquisition. But not all legal avenues have been exhausted by the Missouri interests and given the many snafus that have beset airport projects in other places and delayed their openings years after their scheduled opening, it could be close to the year 2000 before the first 747 can take off from the new airport.
24 / March 1977 / Illinois Issues