Planning for the South Suburban Airport began in 1984 as a cooperative venture between the states of Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, the city of Chicago and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). After many studies, the airport location alternatives were narrowed to five sites in 1990.

The state of Illinois submitted an Environmental Assessment to FAA in March 1998 for the approval of development of an airport at a site in eastern Will County, Illinois. Recently, FAA prepared a Tier 1 Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for site approval and land acquisition. FAA issued a Record of Decision (ROD) on the Tier 1 EIS in July 2002, which approved the Will County, Illinois site as a technically and environmentally feasible location for the development of a potential future air carrier airport in the south suburban area of the greater Chicago region.

The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) began purchasing land surrounding the Will County airport site in 2002 with funding of $75 million earmarked by the Illinois FIRST program.

The original Preferred Inaugural Airport Concept was submitted to the FAA for preliminary review in September 2005. Subsequently IDOT revised this concept to address the objections raised by Federal agencies regarding the magnitude of the environmental impacts incurred by the original preferred concept on Black Walnut Creek. In December 2006, IDOT presented two revised airfield concepts to the general public for discussion and input: the IDOT Inaugural Airport Layout Plan and the ALNAC Inaugural Airport Layout Plan. Both of these plans incorporated airfield changes that would diminish the impacts on Black Walnut Creek and address the environmental concerns raised by the Federal agencies on the original IAP concept. These plans also reflect the airfield improvements undertaken at Bult Field since the release of the Preferred Inaugural Concept.

In early 2007 both IDOT’s Inaugural Plan and the ALNAC plan were submitted to FAA for review. The FAA declined reviewing two concepts for the Inaugural Airport and returned the plans to IDOT for further consideration and refinement recommending that only one preferred plan should be submitted for review. In the light of these developments IDOT re-examined all alternatives with the goal of refining and optimizing the airfield configuration in relation to the previously described concepts.

In December 2007 IDOT undertook the evaluation of additional concept alternatives for the Inaugural Airport. The primary goal was to evaluate alternative locations for the Inaugural Runway and select a Preferred Alternative. On March 7, 2008 IDOT submitted its Preferred Inaugural Airport Configuration to FAA for their review.

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