By Bill Cameron, WLS News

(CHICAGO) Mayor Rahm Emanuel and dignitaries have officially announced the new east-west runway on the south side of O’Hare Airport along with a South Air Traffic Control Tower.

Rather than address concerns from residents of nearby suburbs that the new runway will create new jet noise, Emanuel talked about how it will keep O’Hare world class.

“There is no where in the world and no where in the United States you can’t get to multiple times daily from the City of Chicago, weather permitting, and we are working on that in the City Council next week,” Emanuel said to laughter. “This modernization of O’Hare, the modernization of Midway, continues to allow Chicago to be at the center of a global economy.”

In the last 15 years, O’Hare has added three new runways, a runway extension, many new taxiways and now a third control tower.

Listen to Bill Cameron’s report for WLS News radio:

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