Originally Posted by
Zeffy
No disagreement here -- that's a ton of crosswind for slick runway operations.
Q: why wasn't the airport operating on 4's instead of 9's/10s?
A: Arrival rates (AAR) drop by nearly 2/3.
Pressures induced by "pushing the tin" ATC policies are a factor as well.
Rwy 4L is closed during construction of the new 9C, so the only non-east/west runway is 4R which is 8075 feet and only CAT I for approaches. Considering arrivals and departures and periodic snow removal issues, ORD would basically shut down if the east/west runways were not available.