Page 218 - Planning and Design of Airports

Geometric Design of the Airfield 183

FIGURE 6-4 Example of open-V runways: Jacksonville International Airport.

should be made to place the intersections of both runways as close as
possible to their thresholds and to operate the aircraft away from the
intersection rather than toward the intersection.
Figure 6-5 illustrates the complex runway configuration of
Chicago’s O’Hare Field, with multiple parallel, intersecting, and non-
intersecting runways. It should be noted that a large capital improve-
ment program is being undertaken to simplify the runway configura-
tion, by adding additional parallel runways and removing many
intersecting runways. This runway redesign is being done with the
intention of improving the capacity and efficiency of airport opera-
tions at the airport. The runway configuration redesign is illustrated
in Fig. 6-6.

Runway Orientation
The orientation of a runway is defined by the direction, relative to
magnetic north, of the operations performed by aircraft on the run-
way. Typically, but not always, runways are oriented in such a man-
ner that they may be used in either direction. It is less preferred to