O’Hare runway wins CMAA Project of the Year award

Chicago — The Construction Management Association of America (CMAA) named a new runway built at O’Hare International Airport as 2016 Project of the Year. The award for runway 10R-28L was presented to the Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) and WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff on October 11 at the 2016 CMAA National Conference and Trade Show Industry Recognition Dinner in San Diego. The runway also received CMAA’s Project Achievement Award for infrastructure with constructed value greater than $150 million.

WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff served as construction manager for runway 10R-28L. The project is part of the multi-billion dollar O’Hare Modernization Program (OMP) led by the CDA.

Runway 10R-28L is the fifth east-west parallel runway at O’Hare and the fourth new runway component opened since 2008 as part of the OMP. Runway 10R-28L is 7,500 feet in length and 150 feet in width. Construction on the $516 million runway and taxiway system began in 2011 and was commissioned on October 15, 2015, along with the $41 million South Air Traffic Control Tower, which now manages aircraft operations on the runway.

Runway 10R-28L allows for two simultaneous arrival runways and one departure runway on the south airfield, which gives O’Hare more flexibility for airport operations and allows for additional flights to be added, thus reducing delays.

For more than a decade, WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff has served as construction manager for the OMP. To date, four new runway components and two air traffic control towers have been completed. Currently, work continues on runway 9C-27C, the last runway to be constructed under the program.

The OMP is transforming O’Hare from what was an intersecting system of runways to a more efficient system of parallel runways, thus increasing the airport’s capacity, reducing delays and meeting the anticipated demand well into the future.