Gary Airport Buys Land to Extend Runway
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The Gary/Chicago International Airport is making plans to extend one of its alternate runways that would allow for larger airplanes to take off and land. Our partners at The Times of Northwest Indiana report the airport authority finalized the purchase of about five acres of land that will be used for the planned extension of its crosswind runway.
The extension project has long been a goal of the airport to help when wind conditions or other issues don’t allow for use of the main runway. It is part of the airport’s long term master plan to improve operations.
The publication says the $345,000 purchase will be added to 19 acres purchased last year to allow for the runway extension, which is nearly perpendicularly to the airport’s main runway.
“It was the last piece of the puzzle,” Executive Director Dan Vicari said of Wednesday’s purchase. “It will allow us to start the environmental work necessary to get federal money.”
The extended runway would cross the current path of Airport Road, also known as Industrial Highway, and require it to be routed northward to wrap around the extended runway.
Cost estimates from 2020 show the runway project at just over $42 million and the road realignment at just over $76 million.