Dulles organization touts proactive study

A Washington Airports Task Force (WATF) survey last November showed that 90 percent of residents living close to Washington Dulles Airport (IAD) are regular air travelers and 87 percent considered the airport to be a neighborhood asset. In its August newsletter, the non-profit, pro-aviation coalition contrasted its efforts with those of Dallas/Fort Worth Airport (DFW) in Texas. WATF cited a figure of $146 million spent to counteract noise from DFW’s recently completed seventh runway, twice the amount spent to acquire the airport’s 18,000 acres of land in the late 1960s. The cost of building the runway, itself, was $121 million, according to WATF. As published in the newsletter, “The DFW experience underlines the value of policies that, to date, have maintained compatible land uses around Washington Dulles.”