Gary Airport awarded federal grant for new air traffic control tower
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The Federal Aviation Administration has awarded a $1.7 million grant in support of a new airport traffic control tower at Gary/Chicago International Airport.
The $16.4 million project, first announced in September, will replace the airport’s existing tower that was built in 1972.
The grant was awarded through the FAA Contract Tower program, created to help modernize air traffic control towers with modern equipment, the airport said in a news release.
“This new tower will be the latest in a series of infrastructure upgrades to our airport and provides GCIA with the modern aircraft traffic control tower needed for our continued expansion, and we look forward to this project starting in Q3 2025,” said GCIA Executive Director Dan Vicari.
Plans to replace the existing tower began two years ago and concluded in early September with the FAA’s formal approval of a required siting study report. The airport said the existing tower is still functional but has become increasingly obsolete and inefficient.
The new tower will be about 50 feet taller than the existing tower and feature state-of-the-art technology, including advanced radar systems and communication tools, the airport said.
With the FAA approval, the airport will begin designing and engineering the new tower, and construction is projected to be complete in the summer of 2026.
The grant was made possible under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in 2021.
The project is the latest in a series of improvements over the last few years for the Gary Airport.
In June, officials broke ground on a new, $12 million hangar that will be leased to Valparaiso-based Wingtip Aviation. The previous month, the airport celebrated its 500th international arrival since opening its Customs and Border Protection facility in 2018.