HKG_Flyer1 -- Once again, JerryFF is on top of this. 32L is 13,000 feet in length. As such, to avoid the "trip" departure off 27L (on what is known as Plan W), 32L departures occur just north of the 27L/32L intersection at an entry point called T10. Even with a T10 departure, the pilot still has a little over 10,000 feet of runway -- more than many runways at numerous major airports.

Also, during Plan X, 32L is the "trip" departure runway, and T10 departures occur to avoid arrivals from the west on 9R. There are, however, several operations during the day that used full-length departures off of 32L. These are primarily international heavies (i.e. 747-400's to HKG or Europe).

np -- regarding new runways at ORD, plans show the first would most likely be just to the north of runway 27R/9L, thus creating north airfield parallels. A second runway would then be added south of 27L/9R. There are numerous scenarios out there, but that is the most widely accepted... for now. Should be interesting to watch over the next few years.

Incidentally, you may have read about a 2nd Chicago Delay Task Force that will be starting next week. They will attempt to address the runway issue; but as you can imagine, runways are only a part of the equation with regard to solving delay problems.