Money en route to O'Hare modernization program

The O'Hare Modernization Program is on track to get a $182 million windfall.

Chicago officials announced Friday the Federal Aviation Administration sanctioned its latest request for proceeds from passenger facility charges, or fees collected on airline tickets. The city is embarked on an ambitious and controversial program to build six parallel runways intended to reduce flight delays at O'Hare and to construct a western terminal.

The project is divided into two phases. Chicago has finished two runways and will start construction on a third this spring, although lawsuits involving a cemetery in the middle of the proposed landing strip are ongoing.

The $182 million will go toward the second phase, paying for engineering design of the remaining three runways. Construction will start in 2010, O'Hare officials said.

The money will also pay for a planning study of a western terminal.

Chicago's announcement comes even as groups including the village of Bensenville and the Alliance of Residents Concerning O'Hare charge that the project is unnecessary, over-budget and environmentally hazardous.