O'Hare runway causing noise complaints closes

CHICAGO -- A runway at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport that had been at the center of a fight over jet noise has been closed.

The Daily Herald in Arlington Heights reports as of Thursday, Runway 14-Left/32-Right has been stripped of its identification numbers.

The runway had been in operation since the airport was known as Orchard Field. State lawmakers and resident groups near O'Hare opposed the diagonal runway's closing because the construction of a parallel system of six runways is causing some neighborhoods to be newly impacted by jet noise.

Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans has said the closed runway and a second diagonal runway slated for closing are unsafe because they intersect others and reduce airport efficiency.

There are four diagonal runways at O'Hare, and Evans indicates it's likely a third will be closed.