At the center of the city's plans for the future of O'Hare International Airport is an idea to make Terminal 2 the central part of the airport. What would this look like?

The city is in the middle of a years-long planning process aimed at giving form to the changes that would add gates, amenities and transform the passenger experience. The City Council approved $3.5 billion in borrowing for runway and Terminal 5 work. As part of its plans for Terminal 5 released this summer, the city provided, without much explanation, six schematics for changes to Terminal 2. The city didn't provide much more information about the schematics when contacted by the Tribune. To understand these airport ideas, the Tribune reached out to Joseph Schwieterman, an urban planning professor and transportation expert at DePaul University.

The most telling feature, Schwieterman said, is that each rendering includes an O'Hare express line, a train that would run from the Loop to the airport. The inclusion of the express line in every rendering is a clear signal of its priority, though plans for such a line are far from reality.

Here are more of Schwieterman's comments: