FAA Overhaul Means Noisy Neighborhoods
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
On December 19, the Federal Aviation Administration began its first overhaul in decades of the jet routes that crisscross the country’s most congested airspace — a 31,000-square-mile area around New York and Philadelphia.
The corridor has been criticized for years as one of the worst problem spots in the nation’s beleaguered air traffic system. Over the next five years, the FAA will be rolling out new routes it believes can cut flight delays by as much as 20%. Some aviation experts say improvements are essential; nearly three quarters of all flight delays nationally are caused by backups in New York and Philadelphia.
But a closer look at the revamped flight routes shows that the changes will lead to more noise for tens of thousands of people, many of whom are already are subject to the whine of jet engines because of their proximity to airports.
In Elizabeth, N.J., the changes will mean that some planes will fly straight over the center of the city. “The FAA plan will do more harm to the city of Elizabeth than any terrorist incident,” Mayor Chris Bollwage said.
At least 12 lawsuits have been filed so far in an attempt to stop the plan. Congress ordered the Government Accountability Office to examine the FAA’s method for choosing the new routes. Top lawmakers from several states have demanded changes. Senator Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, threatened to block Senate confirmation of acting FAA administrator Robert Sturgell if the agency doesn’t halt implementation.
FAA officials say the airspace redesign will actually lead to a reduction in noise for a majority of people, largely because the changes will allow planes to fly at higher altitudes. But sound-modeling data released by the agency reveals that the gains and losses will not be spread evenly. Loud neighborhoods will, on average, be getting louder, while the biggest improvements will be in places that aren’t that noisy to begin with.
According to the FAA, an additional 30,600 people will find themselves living in neighborhoods where the average daily aircraft noise level is 60 to 65 decibels — considered the high edge of tolerable for a residential area.
