WGN:Chicago, Airlines Agree on Last Runway in O’Hare Overhaul

The following article was published on January 30, 2016. A link to the article can be found here.

By Tahman Bradley

The city of Chicago and two major airlines have reached a $1.3 billion deal to build the final runway in the overhaul of O'Hare International Airport.

The agreement between the city, United Airlines and American Airlines was announced Saturday. Construction will begin in May with the new runway opening in 2020.

For years, Chicago has been untangling O'Hare's six crisscrossing runways and rearranging them in a safer, more efficient side-by-side layout. It's supposed to unclog one of the nation's worst aviation bottlenecks.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel tells Crain's Chicago Business the city went after the deal "like a heat-seeking missile." He tells the Chicago Tribune his goal is to make O'Hare the nation's best airport.

Today, Representatives Mike Quigley, Tammy Duckworth, and Jan Shakowsky, calling themselves the "Quiet Skies Caucus" raised concerns about noise saying saying: "Today's announcement by CDA and Mayor Emanuel includes some much needed improvements to O'Hare airport, but ignores the noise challenges our constituents in the neighborhoods adjacent to O'Hare have been experiencing."

The Federal Aviation Administration is contributing $345 million to the project.