Some locations have very variable wind conditions so an airport may have runways in many different directions. For example, Wittman where they have Oshkosh has 4 runways in all different directions. http://img.airnav.com/aptdiag/w240/02539.gif?v=OY0UYO
Larger airports typically like to have more traffic throughput by having many parallel runways, like Atlanta which has all 5 runways facing east/west. This means planes may have to take off/land in crosswind conditions, which is not ideal but can be done. https://img.airnav.com/aptdiag/w240/02655.gif?v=Q88169