The airport's controversial "Capacity Enhancement Program," which is moving ahead after a decade of planning and a seven-year environmental study, was heralded yesterday by Mayor Nutter, who called it Philadelphia's "top priority for creating jobs and allowing the region to be strategically positioned for growth in the future."
Airport CEO Mark Gale said it would reduce "chronic delays." The airport was the fourth-most delayed in the nation last year.
Known as "Alternative A," the project calls for adding a runway and expanding two others by acquiring adjacent land and filling in a section of the Delaware River. It's expected to reduce the average flight delay in Philadelphia to 5.2 minutes in 2025, compared to 19.3 minutes if no action were taken.
But the improvements will come largely at the expense of Tinicum Township, a close-knit riverside community of 4,200 without the political clout to stop the massive project.
"They want to do away with us!" said Donna Schrader, a 40-year township resident whose sister's home is in the expansion zone. "Eventually, it's just going to be one big airport."
The project would displace 72 households in eastern Tinicum, according to the FAA's final environmental-impact statement, completed last month. Eighty businesses would also be displaced.
"It's crazy," said Schrader, who attended a meeting Tuesday night at Tinicum Elementary School, where airport officials and consultants discussed noise-mitigation strategies. "You give them an inch and they take a yard. Look how far they've already got."
The Interboro School District, which covers Tinicum, would lose about $2 million in tax revenue under the plan.
