FeedsTotally flawed:
Runway plan will devastate region
The citizens who live near Detroit Metro Airport should be very concerned about the airport’s proposed Master Plan for expansion, which includes a new fifth parallel runway that will devastate Romulus, put neighboring communities at risk – and is wholly unneeded.
The fifth runway will cut through neighborhoods in Romulus, razing hundreds of houses and forcing 3,500 citizens out of their homes. In addition, the runway would level nearly 50 local businesses, affecting scores of jobs and our ability to compete economically. It could close two schools. It will cut through two of southeast Michigan’s busiest surface roads – Eureka and Middlebelt – and affect commuters and local business. Police, fire and emergency services will be severely harmed. Romulus would lose 16 percent of its population and $114 million in assessed value if the airport succeeds in pushing this plan through. For the remaining families, the new runway will worsen the noise problem, harm the environment and diminish their quality of life.
The fifth runway will inflict a terrible price on Romulus and local communities.
To make its argument that Detroit needs a fifth runway, the Airport Authority’s consultants relied on data from 2004 to conclude that flight activity will go up at Detroit Metro and the new runway is needed to meet increasing operations.
Not so fast.
We are now midway through 2008 and a lot has happened since 2004, which was the last time the Airport Authority looked at the real numbers.
In just the past year, fuel costs have risen more than 83 percent, significantly reducing flight volumes. Every year from 2004 through 2007, the Federal Aviation Administration has actually forecast less activity at Detroit – not more. The FAA projects now, using current 2007 figures, that Detroit Metro will see around 670,000 operations in 2025, not 810,000 as the airport projects using outdated, four-year-old data. Even Lester Robinson, executive director of the Airport Authority, himself confessed in the days prior to Sept. 11, 2001, that the airport’s then-new fourth runway would be more than enough to handle operations through 2025. In fact, the airport’s actual and forecasted operations have actually declined since Robinson said four runways are all the airport needs through 2025.
Oh, and Northwest is poised to merge with Delta at a time when major U.S. carriers – including Northwest – have said they would slash operations by up to 10 percent.
In other words, Detroit Metro doesn’t need a fifth parallel runway.
The Master Plan is fatally flawed because its conclusions – that Detroit Metro needs a fifth runway plus a runway extension – are built on a staggering series of false assumptions, gaps in reasoning, outdated data and bad analysis. At least seven other airports across the nation handle far more operations than Detroit with four or fewer parallel runways.
Meanwhile, the Airport Authority in Detroit continues to dodge community concerns, refusing to provide requested information or tell us truthfully why we need a fifth runway when all the evidence proves otherwise. It also refuses to address questions about public safety, noise abatement, adequate compensation for homeowners who will be forced to move, relief for businesses that will have to shut down and lay off workers, and much more.
As the Airport Authority Board prepares to meet May 22, we specifically request that the Board eliminate the fifth parallel runway and the runway extension from the Master Plan. We also urge the Board to give us more time to study this proposal in general, after all the data and analysis has been shared, so the airport and local communities can work together – using the best and latest data – to build a plan that will help the airport meet its goals while safeguarding local communities and our citizens.
We recognize the importance of the airport and appreciate its role in bringing trade, business, visitors and opportunities to our communities. We have every interest in seeing it succeed. We ask only that the Airport Authority use the latest data – as the federal government told it to do in 2007 – and give us more time to build a forward-looking, accurate Master Plan that we can all be proud of.
Romulus Mayor Alan Lambert,
Taylor Mayor Cameron Priebe,
Dearborn Mayor John (Jack) O’Reilly,
Dearborn Heights Mayor Daniel Paletko, and
Inkster Mayor Hilliard Hampton, Jr.
