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O'Hare Modernization
'Super Bowl' of Projects
To Tackle Airport Delays
by Craig Barner
Watching construction at O'Hare International Airport is
a like being on the playing field during a pro football game,
except the participants are bigger and mechanized.
A nearly constant blitz of powerfully built construction equipment,
like linebacker-sized pull scrapers, is sprinting across the
face of the Chicago airport on a daily basis to perform the
sitework for the airfield's expansion. Their rumble sounds
like a crowd of thousands.
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On the sidelines stand the existing terminals and air traffic
control tower.
The Super Bowl of airport construction projects is under way
about 20 mi. northwest of the Loop-and the stakes are higher
than a mere football game.
O'Hare is undergoing a $6.6 billion modernization, and the
project is likely the biggest nationwide in terms of cost
and scope, exceeding New York's much-publicized $6 billion
City Water Tunnel No. 3 but possibly falling short of Las
Vegas' mixed-use Project CityCenter, a yet-to-break-ground
undertaking projected to cost $7 billion.
"The industry seems to believe that this is one of the
largest construction projects under way in the country,"
added Rosemarie Andolino, executive director of the project
formally known as the O'Hare Modernization Program.
OMP is focused on reconfiguring the runways, developing new
terminals on the airport's western perimeter, adding the North
Airport Traffic Control Tower and other improvements.
It is one element of the nearly $15 billion master plan expected
to last 20 years. The other components comprise the $2.6 billion
World Gateway Program, an on-hold plan announced in 1999 to
build gates on the airport's east side. Also set is a $4.1
billion capital improvement program for runway repairs, terminal
upgrades and security enhancements.
While those components are still crystallizing, OMP is the
focus of attention.
Tackling Delays, Controversy
OMP's key goals include eliminating long-term flight delays
and increasing airport capacity.
Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta and Federal
Aviation Administration chief Marion Blakey have imposed multiple
rounds of flight reductions on O'Hare during peak travel times
because of delays. These will remain in place through 2008.
"If we continue to stay where we're at, we don't have
the room to add capacity with what is forecast (for air travel),"
Andolino added. O'Hare has 2,700 daily flight operations and
ranks either No. 1 or 2 in the country in terms of use.
The project principals emphasize that no state or local tax
dollars will be used to fund OMP.
The money is coming from sources that include airline-backed
General Airport Revenue Bonds, passenger facility charges
and federal Airport Improvement Program funds. So far, the
project is about 40 percent funded at $2.88 billion, which
will finance the first phase.
In mid-September, about $541 million in contracts had been
let, Andolino said.
Discussions continue with the airlines on the funding for
the project's second phase, said Roderick Drew, assistant
commissioner and director of public affairs of OMP. The funding
sources are expected be the same as the first phase, except
an estimated 10 percent of funding for the new Western Terminal
will come from third-party sources.
The project has endured controversy for reasons that include
jet noise and property acquisition by the city. Land is needed
to provide runway operations and serve as object-free zones
for airplane safety, and plans call for 433 acres to be acquired
in Bensenville, Chicago, Des Plaines and Elk Grove Village.
Prominent expansion opponents include Bensenville, Elk Grove
Village and St. John's United Church of Christ, the Bensenville
owner of St. Johannes Cemetery on the airport's border.
The FAA approved the project on Sept. 30, 2005, and work commenced
the same day. Hours into the project a stay was issued, thereby
stopping work, so that arguments against the expansion could
be heard in court. Almost a month later, the U.S. Court of
Appeals in the District of Columbia lifted the stay, and the
project resumed.
Litigation is still pending, including a suit seeking to prevent
the city from uprooting the cemetery for the land. In August,
the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in the city's favor, but a
remaining appeal on the cemetery is pending.
Earlier this year, the city offered $630,000 for the land
holding St. Johannes.
Despite the offer, the church opposes the project in part
because 1,600 graves would have to be relocated.
Meantime, the city has acquired 125 acres formerly in Des
Plaines and by mid-September had acquired 101 acres formerly
in Bensenville, Drew said.
Remaining Bensenville parcels and 14.8 acres in Elk Grove
have yet to be acquired.
Because of the ongoing litigation, the date of project completion
has not been announced, Andolino said.
Running on About Runways
The philosophy behind the layout of the runways is the key
to eliminating the delays plaguing O'Hare.
Two existing runways will be extended, three existing runways
will be relocated, three others will be decommissioned and one
new strip will be constructed. As a result, O'Hare will increase
by one runway for a total of eight.
The existing runway layout, with its pickup sticks layout, has
six intersections. Michael Boland, director of OMP, said an
intersecting runway is closed during poor weather, such as rain
or cloudiness with low ceiling, to ensure safety.
"In good weather, they do run the three (approach runways),"
he said. "In bad weather you take one away, so the airport
has a 33 percent reduction in capacity."
Because O'Hare is a linchpin for air traffic nationwide, delays
have ripple effects throughout the country and affect airports
elsewhere.
The new configuration eliminates most intersections and will
have two sets of three parallel runways-one on the north, the
other on the south-for a total of six. Each will be in an east-west
configuration to take advantage of the predominating winds in
the Midwest because jets land and take off into the wind.
More important, the three-plane approach can be done safely
in poor weather, thereby eliminating delays.
The two other runways will be diagonal to the six parallel runways
and be maintained in part to accommodate operations during crosswinds.
Runway Preseason
Most of the construction under way is a run-up for the runway
work.
For instance, a mammoth amount of grading is being done with
equipment like pull scrapers and motor scrapers to balance the
field in preparation for building the runways, taxiways and
infrastructure. Numerous berms, which were created during previous
eras of construction and maintained in sections in part for
noise reduction, are being cut.
In mid-September, about 2 million cu. yds. of dirt had been
moved on both the North and South airfields, Andolino said.
A lot of relocation work is being done, including for Willow-Higgins
Creek, because its course goes through a future runway location.
About 3,000 lin. ft. of concrete had been poured to create box
culverts for the relocated waterway.
A 90-in., high-pressure water main owned by the Northwestern
Suburban Municipal Joint Action Water Agency and serving seven
suburbs is to be moved, also to make way for a runway. About
5,130 lin. ft. of 48-in. temporary bypass piping for uninterrupted
service and 4,776 lin. ft. of 90-in. prestressed concrete cylinder
must be laid.
An interesting element this fall will be the stop of the pressurized
water in the existing main and the shifting to the temporary
bypass, which will involve the introduction of a plugging tool.
"So if you make a mistake, you'll have a gusher out there,"
Boland said.
"There is no way to turn it off."
Only a handful of "hot taps" have been done before,
but few of those involving a 90-in. water main.
Other key phase-one work includes the relocation of a segment
of the Union Pacific Railroad, the creation of the South Airfield
Detention Basin and the elimination of wetlands (see the sidebar
for related information).
SIDEBAR 1
How Green is My Airport?
Several environmentally oriented elements are part of the
$6.6 billion expansion of O'Hare International Airport in
Chicago.
Rosemarie Andolino, executive director of the O'Hare Modernization
Program, said about 153 acres of wetlands on O'Hare property
will be eliminated for the expansion.
As a result, the city gave $43 million to other agencies to
create wetlands elsewhere, including about $11 million to
DuPage County to create 90 acres of wetlands in the DuPage
County West Branch Forest Preserve in Bartlett.
Construction vehicles are required to use ultra-low-sulphur
fuel to prevent the release of gasses that contribute toward
global warming, exceeding federal standards for off-road equipment
by five years and on-road equipment by six months.
Equipment must meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's
Tier II designation on diesel emissions. If equipment does
not qualify, it must be retrofitted with particulate traps
or oxidation catalysts.
Finally, an 84-page document, the Sustainble Design Manual,
was developed to ensure sustainability. The program was developed
because of the lack of a certification program for runways,
access roads and other airport structures.
To find out more about the sustainable effort, see the Aug.
14 story in Engineering News-Record, sister magazine of Midwest
Constrution,
or visit www.enr.com.
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