I have one word to blame for all the problems and delays at O'Hare, SUBURBANITES. When ORD was built, these people flocked to its economic benefits and built their homes underneath the flight paths of the world's busiest airport. ORD is responsible for creating one of the most lucrative suburban zones in America, the northwest Chicago suburbs. Numerous offices, hotels, convention centers, even malls have been given to these suburbs as gifts from ORD. The new freeways that were built to feed into ORD also helped these new rich suburbs sprawl in every direction and become the fastest growing region in Illinois.

In the late '80's, mayor Daley knew that ORD needed to be expanded, and that new runways will be needed greatly. When a proposal was made, the **** suburbs sucking the blood out of ORD and Chicago raised an outcry saying that they could not bear the noise anymore, and that new runways would make the noise problem worse. Tell me, what difference does it make if there are already 2,500 planes going over your head? Surely, 2,800 won't be noticable. The problem in IL is that there is a stupid law that says the governer must approve of new runways before they are built.. Well, for the past 15 years, all Illinois governers have been republicans, and guess what, the entire suburban stronghold around ORD is republican. So, for the past 15 years, the republican governers along with the greedy suburbs have blocked any construction of runways.

The city of Chicago has always had huge plans for ORD way back since the early 80's. There is plenty of room for atleast one more runway, and more room can be easily created for another. With these 2 new runways, O'Hare will have 4 parallel runways, and will increase its capacity from the current 900,000 operations a year to nearly 2,000,000 operations per year! Plus, there are age old plans for new terminals, increasing the number of gates to 275, with an ultimate capacity for over 150 million pax! ORD would have become a megaport years ago. But no, all such plans have been blocked by the governers and their suburban voters, and thanks alot, Atlanta is now the busiest. http://www.elk-grove-village.il.us/new/oha3.htm (Click that to see the age old planned runway configuration)

Instead, the stupid governer wants to spend billions of my tax dollars to build a new, 5th airport for the Chicago area in a corn field in the little town of Peotone. Peotone is 40 miles south of the chicago METRO area, it is literally in the middle of nowhere! And, they are calling it Chicago's third airport, when there are already airports in Milwaukee and Gary. The airport in Gary is only 12 miles from downtown chicago! As of now, there is a heated debate to either waste billions on the new airport, or build the new runways and terminals at ORD.

Currently, news is happening around ORD. Senators are introducing bills in Washington to strip the governer of his power to veto runways, and hopefully, if all goes right, ORD will once again become the center of aviation, the biggest and busiest airport in the world, and with the new runways, it will have the fewest delays.

I can only hope that common sense prevails, and suburban greed doesn't have its way. One question for noise complainers... Why don't the people who live near train tracks or highways complain? I swear, living near train tracks is far worse than any airport, but those people know that without such transportation, nothing would work, so why must people complain about airport noise? It's ludicrous.

If you would like to keep up with the current news about ORD, go to chicagotribune.com and search for O'Hare Airport and you will find plenty.

Thank you for your time.

As a north suburb resident, I agree completely with your comments and wish the state would get it thru it's head that ORD is THE airport for Chicago business and do whatever is necessary to make it work. The only people who I think have a valid beef are those who lived in the ORD area before the airport was built. For anyone who bought a house near an airport to complain about noise is stupid and selfish. They should just be ignored, and the few who were there before the airport compensated.

Good topic!

While I agree that ORD needs additional runways, don't get too preachy about the Republicans. Being a liberal democrat, aren't you concerned about the greenhouse effect caused by all those extra planes? Shouldn't the entire region bow to the wishes of a small minority of homeowners living near ORD? Why has the Mayor been sending millions of dollars of ORD revenue tax to the Gary, IN airport? Yes we need new runways, and I can't wait until ORD is expanded, however, your politics are off

Regardless of your politics, ORD has been there for a long time. The people who live near ORD -- or ANY major airport -- need to understand that there's going to be lots of noise. If they don't like it, they should leave.

I agree that Peotone is a joke and that O'Hare needs to be expaned. The one thing that I really liked about the Suburban O'Hare Commission's website was that it said the new runways would cause people living north and south to hear a lot more noise -- oh, and same for people living east and west. I think the only thing that would make the SOC happy was if Boeing designed a commercial plane that takes off and lands vertically (maybe there's hope for the Osprey yet)! The problem with people who live near the airport complaining is that they have no credibility. First, they complain about expansion. As has been mentioned above, the airport was there first. The only people who can rightfully complain are those who moved in before it was even Orchard Field. So that means, if you've moved in in the last half-century, shut your mouth. Second, they complain about the noise and the pollution. The noise and the pollution from Stage 3 planes is so much less than it was from earlier planes.

The idea of an expanded airport at Gary is intriguing. Flying into O'Hare a couple of months ago, we flew directly over the Gary airport. There is a lot of room for expansion. The drawback, of course, is that it is in Gary. But then again, the area near Midway is not a crown jewel of Chicagoland, yet Midway is prospering.

Those are a few of my thoughts on the subject.

I'm not a liberal democrat, and I understand that pollution will increase, but it will still be there no matter where you put it.

If governer Ryan doesn't run for a second term, then I think ORD has a 100% chance of expanding, because then he won't be forced to please the republican caucus around ORD.

And, I agree that the very few people that were in the area during the 50's and 60's should be compensated, as for everyone else, move them all out into a huge subdivision in Peotone!

I can't site a particular source, but I've heard that if ORD gets expanded completely, with 2 new runways, they will build terminals 7 (domestic) and terminal 8 (international) in the now abandoned military property. When completed, all terminal 2 airlines will move to terminals 7 and 8.

This is how it'll work..
Terminal 1 will be the same and be United domestic.
Terminal 2 will become the star alliance terminal for all *A airlines and UA international flights.
Terminal 3 will be all AA domestic.
Terminal 4 will be for the one world alliance.
Terminal 5 will be for foriegn flag carriers who are not with an alliance.
Terminal 6 will serve the same purpose as T5.
Terminal 7 will be a huge 75 gate terminal for all domestic airlines besides AA and UA.
Terminal 8 will be for international airlines that have alliances with any domestic airlines in terminal 7, and for international flights for non UA non AA carriers.

Wouldn't that be awesome?

See also the following threads at Plane Business:

War Brewing Between AA and UA in Chicago???

Chicago Airport Situation

ORD 1 / NIMBYS 0

No one could have said it better, Chitown. These suburban mayors and State Senators and Representatives who represent the areas around O'Hare are idiots. The Governor is afraid of offending these collar county Republicans by doing the right thing because he knows he is going to have a very difficult time beating ANYONE in a primary, let alone get re-elected. Everyone will end up suffering unless the federal government removes control from the clowns.

"While Elk Grove Village opposes any additional expansion of O'Hare Airport and supports a 3rd regional airport, we are grateful for the economic benefits that O'Hare provides to our community."

Those are the exact quotes from a member of the village board of Elk Grove Township, home of UA ironically.

THANK YOU BOEING!! Now slip some $$$ into the governer's pocket to make him shut up.

Hey PremEx2000... F_ _ _ YOU!!!!

Myself and not every resident of the area that surrounds ORD is included in your quote of:

"The problem with people who live near the airport complaining is that they have no credibility. First, they complain about expansion. As has been mentioned above, the airport was there first. The only people who can rightfully complain are those who moved in before it was even Orchard Field. So that means, if you've moved in in the last half-century, shut your mouth."

I fly often and LOVE the fact that I live very close to ORD. No matter the time of day I can be home via cab in 10 minutes from ORD. I also appreciate the $$ that ORD puts into my suburb, my taxes are VERY low.

I have personally spoken w/two of the last three mayors of my town in regards to backing off their SOC position. Each one took the time to listen, but the most vocal groups will get a politician's attention.

As usual in American Politics, you have a very loud group who gets the media and political attention.

In regards to this thread, ORD is THE airport of the Chicagoland area and should be expanded accordingly.

When you start a thread with a nasty tone it can only get worse.

I also like to see the airport expanded. I like ORD than ATL. The airport layout is more exciting. (ATL is too plain.) Don't know if it can get the title back with the expansion.

Sweet Willie: I apologize if you feel I unfairly lumped you in with other people. I think the tone of the first line of your response was inappropriate for this board and could have been made more effectively with less vitriol. But as I have a thick skin, it doesn't really bother me.

I have a gut feeling that ORD is in the lead, and NIMBY's are losing. It's just a matter of time.

I believe the best solution to Chicago and the nation's transportation problems is to expand ORD, build up Gary, and then no more airports, because then the sky will be full of planes. After this airport mess is over (and ORD is under construction), we seriously need to work on High, very high speed rail, not like Amtrak's cheap Acela, I'm talking Maglev.

We keep hearing wild statistics about how the number of air travelers will grow to 1 billion and all that, but hello, the sky will not get any bigger. Before the skies get totally saturated with planes, we need something to compete with them, and that's Maglev lines connecting all major cities within 500 miles of each other.

And of course, Chicago will be the hub for the midwest, if not the nation.

Also, the CTA should run a line between ORD, MDW, and Gary, maybe even Milwaukee..


Sweet Willie, I'm glad to hear that many people in the burbs have sense and want to do what's right, but that comment to Premex was uncalled for.