The Illinois Department of Transportation has selected a firm to design an Interstate 57 interchange and other improvements near Peotone, a sign of renewed commitment to build the long proposed South Suburban Airport.
IDOT in late April picked engineering firm WSP USA from among six companies that submitted proposals to study highway access. The firm serves as general engineering consultant for the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority and employs about 12,000 people in the United States.
State transportation officials in February solicited proposals for preliminary engineering services and environmental studies to improve access to I-57 in an area from south of Wilmington-Peotone Road to north of Monee-Manhattan Road in Will County, according to an IDOT document.
“The anticipated scope of work consists of improvements to meet 2050 travel demand in an area that has potential for large industrial and future airport uses by improving local and regional connectivity to Interstate 57,” IDOT said in Professional Transportation Bulletin No. 203 issued in February.
The state has spent more than $100 million since 2002 to acquire more than 5,000 acres for a potential South Suburban Airport. The facility would be built at the site of Bult Field, an existing airstrip at 28261 S. Kedzie Ave., Monee, about 5 miles east of I-57.
State lawmakers in 2019 approved $162 million in funding for road improvements and utility extensions to serve the proposed airport. Hiring a firm to design a new interchange would represent a significant commitment to move forward with the airport project, said Reggie Greenwood, executive director of the South Suburban Economic Development Corporation.
“To build the South Suburban Airport it’s going to take both the interchange and the airport,” Greenwood said. “You cannot do one without the other.”
Planners have long discussed a financing arrangement in which the state would cover costs of acquiring land and building public infrastructure improvements to serve the airport. The state would then partner with a private developer that would fund construction of runways, hangars, warehouses and other facilities, then recover its investment costs by collecting fees once the airport is operational.
“You’re not able to get the level of private interest unless the state demonstrates its willingness to commit,” Greenwood said.
Naysayers over the years have characterized the so-called third airport as a boondoggle and waste of state resources. Passenger airlines using Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports had no interest in a facility surrounded by farm fields about 40 miles south of the Loop, opponents said.
Progress toward the airport ground to a halt between 2014 and 2018 during the administration of Gov. Bruce Rauner, who did not support the project. Illinois lacked the means to pursue investments in new projects while Rauner and lawmakers were locked in a budget stalemate.
However, market conditions have rapidly evolved in recent years. There is growing evidence companies like Amazon and others would ship freight in and out of a Chicago area air cargo hub, airport supporters have said. Existing airports in Chicago and Gary, Indiana, lack airspace capacity to handle increased demand for cargo flights and Rockford is too far away to efficiently serve Chicago-area customers.
More recently, boosters have said a boom in new warehouse, logistics, intermodal operations and similar facilities in the Southland is driving demand for a cargo airport. The project would create jobs and unleash private business investment that would trigger new opportunities in education, housing and other areas.
While selection of an engineering firm to study I-57 access signals the state’s commitment to the airport project, actual construction would not begin for several more years. IDOT’s bulletin said WSP would have three years to complete its design work.
“The contract has yet to be executed,” IDOT spokesman Guy Tridgell said. “That’s anticipated to happen later this year, at which point the 36-month time frame to complete this phase will begin.”
WSP and IDOT continue to negotiate the cost and scope of the access study. The state’s February bulletin indicated the work would include an environmental assessment.
The decision to proceed with design work is the first public progress involving the airport since November. At the time, state lawmakers had written to Gov. J.B. Pritzker and said they were concerned the state had hired a consultant to investigate potential alternate uses for land the state had acquired for the airport.
Traditional agriculture, a cannabis growing facility and a solar farm were among possible uses being considered. However, legal concerns were raised because the state used eminent domain authority to acquire some parcels for the publicly stated purpose of developing an airport.
More recently, other consultants visited the region and met with civic and business leaders to gauge the level of interest in an air cargo facility. Big-box developments would likely spring up along an east-west corridor in the vicinity of Eagle Lake Road.
“We anticipate development of 20 million square feet of industrial space between the airport and I-57,” Greenwood said.
That type of business growth would be consistent with developments already occurring throughout the region, from Markham and Country Club Hills to University Park and Monee.
There have been many incremental developments over the years in the effort to make the South Suburban Airport a reality. For now, the selection of a firm to study access to I-57 may be considered as one more step in a long process.
Then again, the commitment to proceed with an access study could be a sign that now more than ever, the airport is looking like a sure thing. It may be a few more years until workers move dirt for the airport, but the project is looking more like reality and less like a mirage.
Ted Slowik is a columnist with the Daily Southtown.
