http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...i_tab01_layout

http://www.chicagotribune.com/classi...5423821.column

State to hold talks on expanding roadway to O'Hare
western access
Jon Hilkevitch

Getting Around

October 1, 2007

Talks between the state and two dozen municipalities are scheduled to begin this week on extending the eastern portion of the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway now that the Chicago-versus-suburbs fight over expanding O'Hare International Airport is at least somewhat settled

...

Maybe one day the Elgin-O'Hare expressway will go to both Elgin and O'Hare, seeing as that now it doesn't go to either.

Am I correct to assume that unless the blue line is extended, much of the new portion of O'Hare will not be readily accessable from the current stop without an airport tram transfer?

Yeah. There have been murmurs that part of Phase II or III of the OMP will include extensions at both ends of the ATS, at one end extending 1/2 mile north to the O'hare Transfer Metra station and a new large remote parking garage, and at the other going underground and heading west to the new terminal. Who knows if any of that will actually happen.

FAA softens stance on O'Hare flights caps

great more roadway for car/suv driving oil suckers & nothing for cta / rta / metra...makes a lot of sense

The Western By-Pass is good news for O'Hare and Chicago. It was part of a deal brokered 7-8 years ago, that broke the back of the Anti OHare group. When the Northern Dupage towns realized that the threat of a new south suburban airport would be bad for business in their villages, they got on board with Daley and agreed to support O'Hare if the Long Planned western By-Pass was completed. This deal culminated in the complete dissintigration of the suburban alliance against OHare. Every single town and the County board swung to support OHare expansion except Bensenville and Elk Grove.

In the real world politics, comprimise and consensus building is more effective than stomping feet and blanket rejections. Not to mention, more access to OHare keeps OHare more in demand and more vital.

Whoever Hilkevitch's contact is re O"Hare modernization does not have much credibility after the flight cap story.

True, also it would had made the realization of a west terminal much harder I would think. It also would help clear up traffic on 90 and 290 which should be more for commute traffic. I don't really see the need to extend it all the way to Elgin some day but I do see the merit in running it to O'Hare.

spot on.

Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. A new western access road allows for the possibility of a light-rail link between O'Hare, Elk Grove, and Schaumburg (which has been whispered around).

Light-rail, I believe, would be a lot less costly than the O'Hare connection of the STAR Line (which is Metra's responsibility, and therefore unlikely).

I heard through the grapevine that O'Hare will get two more terminal buildings: T4 and T6.

Good look getting from Terminal 3-L to future T6. :haha:

I also hear a new arrival/depature building is being built on York Rd, which will serve as a western access into O'Hare.

Any more word on this?

Warning, PDF. :rolleyes:

http://www.bechtel.com/PDF/Avaiation_Chicago.pdf - Rendering
http://www.suburban-ohare.org/detail.asp?OBJECT_ID=625

O'Hare plans change on the fly

By Fran Spielman City Hall Reporter

O'Hare Airport's soon-to-be-built Terminal 6 will have its own four-story parking garage--with sorely needed, close-in space for 2,600 cars--thanks to a design upgrade included in Mayor Daley's $3.2 billion World Gateway expansion project.

While a pricier indoor garage and four more wide-body, international gates are being added, the Daley administration is saving millions by shelving plans to relocate the airport's heating and refrigeration plant.

The plant was supposed to be moved to make way for a new Terminal 4 to be built during the second phase of World Gateway.


Instead, the underground tunnel system that currently ends at Terminal 5 will be extended beneath the airport roadway to Terminal 6 to bring in heated and chilled water from the existing plant. The subterranean work can be done without disrupting traffic on the airport roadway.

"It was the cost benefit and the potential for disrupting utilities that need to be in place for the airport to continue to function," Aviation Commissioner Thomas Walker said. "This lowers our risk. We already have to relocate flight kitchens, cargo facilities and the [people mover]. We're trying to steer clear of long delays by minimizing the number of facilities that have to be demolished and relocated."

Ever since the post-Sept. 11 travel slowdown--and, more recently, the agreement between Mayor Daley and Gov. Ryan to build new runways and a new west terminal at O'Hare--there has been speculation that World Gateway would be downsized.

Walker stressed that the design changes do not not mean the second new terminal is being shelved. A new Terminal 4 could still be built around the heating and cooling plant, sources said.

"No decision has been made about Phase Two. We'll see what happens when we get there," the commissioner said.

In September 2000, United and American Airlines signed on to the World Gateway plan and its new system of assigning gates on a "preferential" instead of an exclusive basis.

The agreement wrapped up months of contentious negotiations that saw City Hall agree to phase in the project and assume a greater share of the financial burden. The airline ticket tax was subsequently raised--from $3 to $4.50 per passenger--to accommodate the change.

One year later, the largest single contract in Chicago history--to build an $800 million to $1 billion terminal--was awarded to a company represented by Victor Reyes, Mayor Daley's newly retired political enforcer.

The winning team was asked to design and build a 550,000-square-foot terminal adjacent to the International Terminal.

The project also includes: an extension of the O'Hare people mover system; improvements to the airport's upper- and lower-level roadways and construction of a temporary terminal extension, an aircraft apron strip, a pedestrian bridge and a staging area for snow removal.


Since then, 10 to 15 percent of the design work has been completed and major alterations have been made.

Chief among them is the decision to replace a 500-space surface parking lot with a four-story, 2,600-space parking garage that will bolster the number of enclosed parking spaces at O'Hare by 34 percent. The airport currently has 24,094 spaces, only 7,684 are located under cover at the main garage.

"We have plenty of space in remote lots accessed by the people mover. But what this new structure will provide is more adjacent spaces for those passengers who would rather come a little later, park a little closer and go directly to the terminals," Walker said.

"We're always looking to maximize features that customers believe make an airport more user-friendly. Close-in, convenient, relatively inexpensive parking is one of those things."

At the same time, the city is seeking to reclaim 1,673 close-in spaces in O'Hare's main parking garage by asking the federal government to relax a 300-foot rule imposed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The Daley administration has also directed its design team to include four more "swing gates" capable of accommodating wider-body jets used to service international flights. Initial plans called for Terminal 6 to include 15 new gates, but only two of the extra-large variety needed to receive overseas passengers.

The revised plan would bring the number of wide-body gates to six. That will give the airlines maximum flexibility to accommodate projected growth in international travel.

An airline executive, who asked to remain anonymous, praised City Hall for being flexible enough to accommodate changing needs.

"World Gateway is a work-in-progress," the airline official said. "The whole thing was set up in a conceptual way. They tried to plan it, but as times and needs change, it has to be changed. Parking is a very hot commodity. And accommodating wider jets is a good idea. That's what the needs of the future are."

T6-Partners, the joint-venture led by Bechtel Infrastructure Corp., is scheduled to complete 30 percent of the design work by December. By that time, the city hopes to have nailed down a construction financing agreement and specifics of the new preferential gate assignments with major airlines.

Preliminary Design for New Terminal 5 on York Rd.
http://www.airport-technology.com/pr...h-airfield.jpg

^ Exciting.

Can someone please remind me who the architects are for the new terminals?

I understand the future runway layout but the location of the new terminals and how you are going to get to and from them has confused me. Is there going to be some underground tram from the main complex to the West Terminal? Right now Terminal 5 is the international terminal. Now I see the rendering for terminal 5 on the west side of the field (thanks Mr. Man for the rendering) on York road. And what is the "World Gateway?" I need to see a map if there is one to figure this out.

That T5 design reminds me of a white version of the the gorgeous Madrid Airport. I absolutely love this color and style, Spanish architects are the best!

From Wikipedia:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._interior1.JPG

The ATS will have to be expanded to the new terminal.

The new West Terminal/Terminal 6/World Gateway (all the same thing I believe) will be located here: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...&t=h&z=16&om=1

The Elgin-O'Hare expressway will be extended to the corner of Throndale and York Rd. Also, a new interstate bypass (O'Hare Ring Road) will begin @ I-90 and connect with the new Elgin-O'Hare extension then end at I-290.

http://www.suburban-ohare.org/object...road_color.jpg
http://a.abclocal.go.com/images/wls/...4_ohare_st.jpg

The new terminal building will be connected underground to the other terminal buildings on the other side of the airport. I have no idea where the new Terminal 4 building will be going though. Chicago has gone construction mad!