After passing a Final Environmental Assessment, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently issuing a Finding of No Significant Impact/Record of Decision for the Denver Metroplex project.
The Denver Metroplex is one of many larger metroplex projects being undertaken throughout the country. Those projects are meant to aid air traffic flow for entire regions, including multiple airports. In Denver’s case, this takes the form of satellite technology that will chart more direct routes for aircraft into and out of area airports, hopefully increasing efficiency, enhancing safety and reducing delays.
Despite the changes, air traffic controllers will still need to occasionally decide on a particular airfield traffic pattern for aircraft to fly, be it for safety or efficiency reasons, including weather.
The FAA conducted an environmental review, along with 24 public workshops and 78 stakeholder briefings around Denver. The environmental review indicated little in the way of impactful change: it determined that some people will experience slight noise decreases, others increases, and still more will experience no change at all. Other than that, some area residents might see aircraft in places they previously did not.
The final ruling followed two public comment periods and responses to more than 975 comments. Procedures should now be implemented on March 26, 2020.
The Denver Metroplex website includes Google Earth features that enable people to view current and projected flight paths associated with the project.