In 2003, Chicago’s mayor sent bulldozers to carve six giant Xs into an airport runway overnight, stranding 16 planes; 12 years later, the former airfield reopened with 40 acres of prairie, wetlands and wildlife habitat

• Meigs Field in 1997 (Image Credit: Wikipedia)When Chicago residents woke up on March 31, 2003, one of the city's most recognisable small airports had effectively disappeared overnight.
• Daley, construction crews arrived at Meigs Field in the early hours and carved six enormous X-shaped gouges into the runway, making it unusable.