Epstein University – A History of Chicago Airports

Monday, May 20th, as part of our regular officer-led "Epstein University" series, a full-house of Epsteiners were treated to a presentation on Chicagos Midway and OHare Airports, as well as in-depth "seminar" on the engineering behind runways. This particular Lunch n Learn, titled "A History of Chicago Airports," was given by Tom Smiles, PE, Epsteins Senior Vice President and Director of Engineering, and Laura Rebbe, AIA, our Vice President and Project Manager, with assistance from Noel Abbot, Vice President and Director of Business Development and Marketing.

In this hour-long AIA-accredited seminar, attendees were given insight into the history of both Midway and OHare as well as Epsteins decades-long involvement at these two airports, including major projects such as the Midway Terminal Redevelopment Program and the United Airlines Terminal 1 Complex at OHare. In addition, the current and proposed future developments for Midway and OHare were discussed, including the major $8.5 billion OHare 21 program, which will dramatically increase capacity, services and amenities at one of the busiest airports in the world.

The last part of the presentation was focused on the engineering involved in runways; something Epstein has a unique understanding of, as we were responsible for leading and delivering two of OHares newest runways - 9L-27R and 10R-28L. This portion of the talk was given by Tom, who was Epsteins principal for both of those significant runway engineering efforts, and focused on topics like earthwork and grading, drainage, instrument landing systems, runway pavement and pavement marketing and signage.

Epstein University is a program dedicated to educate, mentor and pass along knowledge about Epstein and our specific AEC industry expertise to our staff. It is our hope to help them better understand our unique history and to use some of the technical and industry knowledge in their current and future design, engineering and construction assignments.