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O'Hare To Get New Runway In 2013; People Mover To Be Extended

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A new runway and an extension of the people mover are coming to O'Hare International Airport next year.

WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports city aviation officials discussed the airport improvements on Thursday during budget hearings at City Hall.

Aviation Commissioner Rosemarie Andolino said the people mover – the automated transit system that operates between the terminals and the long-term parking lots – will be extended to the airport's consolidated rental car facility.

"That will receive an upgrade because of our volumes. And we're gonna extend it out of its current location in the parking lot off of Mannheim , and extend it into what we call consolidated rental car facility further north," she said.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore Reports

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The consolidated rental car facility, expected to be completed in 2016, will house all of the rental car companies that serve O'Hare, and the people mover will take passengers there.

"Right now, you take buses to get to the Enterprises, or the Avises, or the Hertz. Well, now you'll take the people mover. So it's more environmentally friendly," Andolino said. "It provides a more seamless transition for our customers, to get them out of our terminal and to the car rental facility, and vice versa."

Next year, a new runway – Runway 10C – will open. It will be a 200-foot-wide runway designed to handle large aircraft like Boeing 747-8s, and Airbus A380s.

The Aviation Department also has been talking about plans to upgrade the restaurants and shops in the International Terminal.

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