CHICAGO: ORD & MDW discussion

[chiphile]

^You list practical points that explain the reasoning behind the current proposal.

My contention is (and what I should have stated clearly), why not at least PLAN for what a full build out looks like, and only finish half of it in the current ten-year plan? What happened to master planning? The current proposal looks like a cluster-F for someone in 2040 looking to maximize the terminal-side of the airfield. On the bright side though, the parallel western concourses look like they can be expanded westward in a parallel fashion, which is good, but without main terminal processing capacity additions may not be possible without a western terminal to house ticket and baggage counters.

Without planning for the full build out needed as passenger numbers inevitably increase, I'm afraid the piecemeal approach will leave us with an awkward configuration and inefficient use of land once it is all used up--leaving us with a JFK-like configuration that historians will have to explain.