Watch CBS News

Howard County Sues FAA To Stop BWI Airport Expansion

SEVERNA PARK, Md. (WJZ) -- The largest crowds at BWI-Marshall Airport at in Terminal A, Southwest's main terminal.

To handle growth, it wants to build five new gates.

But in Severna Park, Linda Curry thinks "expansion doesn't sound like the right way to go."

Not when the sound of jets roars over parts of Anne Arundel and Howard counties.

It started when new satellite air traffic control technology changed flight paths at BWI.

According to Curry, "they've taken the flight paths from being really wide and dispersed, to narrow like this. So all of the flights concentrate on a single path."

Those narrower flight paths also bring planes in lower for landings over Anne Arundel County and take-offs over Howard County, where residents have also been complaining to Howard County Executive Calvin Ball.

"Many of them can't sleep," Ball said. "Their houses shake and this isn't what they signed up for. This isn't how things were when they purchased their homes."

"More and more people are losing contracts on their properties because the buyers notice the sound, the noise of the airplanes and backed out," Curry said.

"To expand the airport when frankly the FAA hasn't even been responsive to our current concerns is unacceptable," said Ball.

So Howard County is suing the FAA to stop expansion at the airport.

It joins another filed by Maryland's Attorney General, seeking a negotiation about noise before before any new construction at BWI.

Because if expansion happens with ways to reduce noise Curry worries, "they're only going to be bringing in more planes and more noise."

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.