Costly legal challenges and delays in acquiring land have helped put the first phase of the multibillion-dollar O'Hare Airport expansion project about $400 million over budget, city officials told the Sun-Times.
The city says it will take at least two years longer than planned to complete one runway whose path is blocked by a Bensenville cemetery.
Originally slated to be finished in 2009, Runway 10 Center/28 Center likely won't be finished until November 2011, said Rosemarie Andolino, head of the city's O'Hare Modernization Program.
It could take even longer, depending on when the city resolves its ongoing legal disputes with the owners of St. Johannes Cemetery and other expansion opponents who have already succeeded in adding time and money to the city's estimates, Andolino said.
COST COULD GROW EVEN MORE
Members of St. John's United Church of Christ, along with officials from Bensenville and Elk Grove Village, have been fighting the project for years in an attempt to save the cemetery and hundreds of homes in both suburbs.
Exactly how much money the city has spent on litigation so far is unclear, but Andolino said, "We didn't plan on carrying those costs."
The city also didn't anticipate an 18-month delay in receiving Federal Aviation Administration approval for the project.
This, along with escalating real estate costs, contributed to the $400 million shortfall on work that was budgeted at $2.9 billion.
Even so, Andolino is calling the cost overrun a mere "hiccup," saying it can be covered with a combination of funds from the airlines and the FAA.
However, Andolino acknowledged that the project could be even more over budget once weather-related delays are factored in. "Unfortunately, that will have an impact on our program, but we don't know what it is yet," she said, adding that work crews have been hampered by unusually wet weather this spring, summer and fall.
The first phase of construction, which began last fall, involves building one new runway, relocating another and extending a third.
The changes would put O'Hare's runways into a parallel configuration, potentially reducing delays. But critics of the project have long disputed the city's budget projections, saying they are much too low, and the city's contention that efficiency and safety will be enhanced.
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