Gary airport plans $50M project to move tracks

GARY, Ind. — Officials hope that by spring work can start on a $50 million project to move railroad tracks so that the main runway at Gary/Chicago International Airport can be extended.

The tracks now come within 130 feet of the runway, which is slated for a 1,900-foot extension. Plans had been to have the tracks moved by last year, but Airport Director Chris Curry says negotiations with the previous owner were delayed before Canadian National Railway Co. bought the route.

Curry says the airport plans to pay for the work with about $20 million in federal grants and money from the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority.

Preparations for the runway extension have included moving an oil tank and nearby high-voltage power lines, along with lowering a stretch of the Indiana Toll Road.