Relieving Gate Bottlenecks at O’Hare
Innovative Terminal Area Plan Includes New Satellite Terminals and People Movers
After Ricondo helped the Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) solve its flight cap and airfield capacity constraints at O'Hare International Airport (O'Hare), consultants were presented with a new challenge: how to relieve bottlenecks at the gates. Ricondo’s 30-year relationship with the CDA and its comprehensive understanding of the issues specific to O’Hare and its surrounding environment provided the necessary foundation for an implementable solution.
In 2015, Chicago’s newly appointed airport commissioner tasked Ricondo with creating a multiphased Terminal Area Plan (TAP) to resolve its growing gate limitations. Short- and long-term plans included planning for the international Terminal 5, transforming Terminal 2 into a newly designated O’Hare Global Terminal and Concourse, and adding up to four satellite terminals and airport people movers (APMs)—all within the footprint of the existing airport.
Ricondo has supported this initiative through facility planning and analysis, detailed traffic forecasting, support in environmental analysis, and approvals. Ricondo’s operational phasing approach, in conjunction with its leadership work in the O’Hare Modernization Program (OMP), offers Ricondo the strategic advantage of simultaneously implementing the TAP and OMP, while retaining the airport’s operational integrity.
However, analysis and planning of the TAP only scratches the surface of what is required to build O’Hare’s terminal and gate enhancements. Ricondo also supported a $2 billion bond issuance in fall 2018, along with initiating the environmental impact process, among other steps required to see this project through its multiyear rollout strategy.
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