Forty-eight noise complaints have been filed with the Metropolitan Airports Commission over the past few months. (Provided)
The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) summer construction pause will come to an end on August 18 when the second phase is set to resume. MSP has over 32 miles of runways and taxiways, and temporary closures occur for a variety of reasons. This planned maintenance will include “…runway safety area grading, Taxiway Delta reconstruction, replacing the engineered materials arresting system and shoulder replacement,” said Pat Mosites of the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC).
MAC owns and operates MSP and six reliever airports but does not determine where aircraft fly, what runways are used or flight procedures. This past April, MSP closed runway 12R-30L for similar maintenance but paused in late May for summer travel. Delta recently added two international flights to Copenhagen and Rome, bringing their total number of non-stop international flights to 35, setting a new airport record.
The large A330-300 aircraft climbs a bit slowly, which can contribute to noise. At the May 18 Noise Oversight Committee (NOC) meeting, NOC Assistant Technical Advisor Carey Metcalfe noted that “…some of the April complaints are likely related to the recent construction project’s impact on runway usage patterns.”
Metcalfe reviewed the geography of where complaints were made. Twenty-one complaints were filed from a location in the Waite Park Neighborhood and 27 complaints were filed from the Van Cleve neighborhood, which is 3 miles directly south of Waite Park. MAC’s website notes that “with aircraft directed to use open runways, residents may notice a temporary change or increase in activity over their neighborhood, depending on the flight patterns and runway configurations chosen by the FAA during the upcoming construction.”
MAC offers quarterly listening sessions. The next is on July 29, 6 p.m., at the Highland Park Community Center. Anyone with questions regarding aircraft noise or runway closures can call the Community Relations Office at 612-726-9411.