Chicago Executive EMAS Used

Chicago Executive EMAS Close Up

Chicago Executive EMAS 1 Aerial

Chicago Executive EMAS 1 Aerial

Increasing Safety at Major Business Airport

Engineered Materials Arrestor System (EMAS)

Chicago Executive Airport (PWK) | Wheeling & Prospect Heights, IL

The Runway Safety Area (RSA) Improvement project at Chicago Executive Airport features an Engineered Material Arresting System (EMAS), a solution designed specifically for the unique characteristics of this suburban airport. The project also serves as the most recent example of how, over the past three decades, severe site constraints have been overcome through engineering ingenuity, which has allowed the airport to continue to grow and become an ever more valuable asset to the area.

On the 16-34 RSA Improvement project, Crawford, Murphy & Tilly (CMT) provided consulting services for a $13 million overall RSA Improvement project on each end of the main runway 16-34. These projects combined will complete a major enhancement to the airport’s main runway and provide an improved RSA benefiting all airport users. Chicago Executive Airport is the first reliever airport in the state of Illinois to install EMAS.

CMT has been a very important strategic partner with Chicago Executive Airport (CEA), formally Palwaukee Municipal Airport, since the early 1980s. CMT has helped to evolve CEA from a privately owned airport that had numerous FAA design issues to one of the most important reliever airports in the country. The Crawford, Murphy & Tilly, Inc. team has stood by us during those years offering solutions to numerous complex design issues.

Jamie L. Abbott, CM

Executive Director, Chicago Executive Airport

Project Contact(s)

Brian Welker, PE

Project Award(s)

  • American Council of Engineering Companies - Illinois, Merit Award 2017

Project Service(s)

  • Design and Construction Engineering
  • Environmental Services
  • Funding Assistance
  • Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
  • Planning
  • Program Development
  • Permitting, Regulatory Coordination and Compliance
  • Stormwater Management