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Chicago O’Hare International Airport has reached a key construction milestone in its expansion plans.
A joint venture of AECOM Hunt Clayco Bowa and the Chicago Department of Aviation began vertical construction on the airport’s new 19-gate, 580,000-square-foot Concourse D, according to an April 23 announcement. The construction of the project is valued at $1.45 billion, per the release.
As part of the work’s scope, the new concourse will add new gates for narrow-body aircraft, or single-aisle aircraft that operate short-haul international flights and domestic flights. The terminal will also have the flexibility to convert 18 of those gates into nine for serving wide-body aircraft. Project plans also include over 20,000 square feet of lounge space, 30,000 square feet of retail and dining space and a 450-square-foot children’s play area, according to the announcement.
Alongside Indianapolis-based AECOM Hunt, the joint venture includes Chicago-based builders Clayco and Bowa Construction.
The construction team broke ground on the job in August 2025 and has completed approximately 35% of the foundational work, according to the announcement. This includes more than 90% of the caissons, or large, reinforced concrete shafts that are drilled deep into the ground for structural support.
Over the coming weeks, the team will install a 195-foot-tall tower crane at the center of the airfield to mark the transition to vertical construction of the 73-foot-tall facility.
Starting this spring, builders will add a central cooling facility that is designed to serve all future developments for the ORDNext project, the largest terminal expansion program in O’Hare’s history. Contractors will also complete critical airfield paving and utility infrastructure, which will support upcoming phases, per the news release.
Along with Concourse D, ORDNext includes a future Concourse E and a new global terminal that will replace the current Terminal 2, according to the announcement. An $8.5 billion expansion of ORD was approved by the Chicago City Council in 2018.
The city envisions that construction and infrastructure work on the airport will create more than 3,800 construction jobs, according to the city’s August 2025 groundbreaking news release.
The Windy City’s infrastructure push extends beyond the airport — last week, the Chicago Transit Authority and the Walsh-Vinci Transit Community Partners joint venture broke ground on the $5.7 billion Red Line Extension. The 5.5-mile-long extension will extend rapid rail transit to the city’s Far South Side for the first time.
