Comprehensive and Streamlined

Crawford, Murphy & Tilly (CMT) was the lead consultant for the development of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the $7.5 billion O’Hare Modernization Program. Under contract with the City of Chicago’s Aviation Department, we led a team of nationwide consultants to assist the FAA in the successful processing and preparation of the EIS, which addressed the bold new plan that includes a major reconfiguration of the world’s busiest airport.

Some of the major elements of the proposed project included the realignment, addition and extension of six runways; three new terminal buildings, including an O’Hare Western Terminal concourse and access; acquisition of more than 440 acres of industrial/residential areas; major railroad/public road realignments; and the development of over 3,000 acre-feet of stormwater detention facilities. In addition to adhering to the requirements set forth by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for development of the O’Hare EIS, we also provided services on behalf of the FAA, which included a comprehensive review of the City of Chicago’s Master Plan for O’Hare, review of the Airport Layout Plan, analysis of the USACE Section 404 Permit application and mitigation process, and the review and validation of aviation forecasts, airspace/airfield operations, construction phasing and overall project costs of the OMP.

Project schedule was paramount to the FAA because of the ripple effect aircraft delays at O’Hare were having on the entire National Airspace System (NAS). The CMT team and the FAA partnered to streamline the review process resulting in a new national standard for timely completion of a major EIS.