$42 million need to extend Gary airport runway, creating 1,000-foot buffer

The lack of lengthy buffer zones at the end of runways, which contributed to the tragedy Dec. 8 at Chicago's Midway International Airport, also is a concern for Northwest Indiana's Gary/Chicago International Airport - though the region's largest airport already has a runway that is 500 feet longer than Midway's 6,500-foot main runway.

The lack of 1,000-foot buffer zones at both Midway and the Gary/Chicago airport could be corrected more readily at Gary/Chicago than at Midway, which lies within a heavily developed and densely populated urban neighborhood. Gary/Chicago hopes to break ground next summer on a runway extension and buffer zone project, if it can secure FAA funding.

The FAA is now reviewing the airport's application for $42 million in funding for the expansion.

The project would extend the runway to 9,000 feet, which is long enough to handle the largest commercial airliner the airport could ever expect to get, according to Chris Curry, airport deputy director.

"It will increase our capacity, make it a safer airport, and it should attract all types of cargo aircraft and a variety of commercial airlines as well," Curry said.

"Lengthening the runway, in the context of events, is both an economic necessity for the airport and a safety issue," Gary Mayor Scott King said on Thursday at the airport terminal.

Minutes before, King stood by Gov. Mitch Daniels as the governor touted the potential of the airport. Daniels stopped there near the end of a statewide tour promoting his Major Moves transportation initiative.

Just 130 feet separate the end of the Gary/Chicago airport's main runway and the embankment carrying the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway tracks, which serve local industry including steel mills, chemical plants and an oil refinery. At Midway, just 82 feet lie between the end of the main runway and a city street.

Despite promulgation of Federal Aviation Administration standards calling for 1,000-foot buffer zones at the end of runways, Gary/Chicago remains among 37 Midwest airports that have to take corrective action, according to Tony Molinaro, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman.

"There are a lot of challenges there with water and with the trains," Molinaro said of Gary/Chicago. "There are environmental challenges as well."

Airports that lack safety buffers are coming in for increased scrutiny following the accident at Midway that killed Joshua Woods, 6, of Leroy.

In that incident, a Southwest Airlines plane landed during a snowfall, skidded off the runway, plowed through a fence, and struck the car in which the Woods family was traveling.

Officials admit little can be done to correct the situation at Midway because it is hemmed in by residential neighborhoods. The airport itself, though once the nation's busiest in the days before full development of O'Hare International Airport, lies within a one-mile square tract of land.

A new federal law requires all airfields to comply with the FAA's 1,000-foot standard by 2015.

The prospect of a plane crashing into the embankment carrying the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway tracks is one scenario that makes officials nervous about the current layout at Gary/Chicago. There also is the potential that a plane might hit a freight train on the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway tracks.

Up to a dozen freight trains a day pass over the tracks. Railroad officials confirmed some carry hazardous substances.

The airport has well-developed plans for moving the tracks. That would create ample available land. It also has environmental clearance. But the airport and railroad still have to finalize a deal allowing movement of the tracks and removal of the embankment.

The FAA has inventoried safety areas at Midwest airports since 2000 and safety zones have been improved at 46, according to Molinaro.

On Sept. 8, 2000, Gary/Chicago airport officials received an FAA report saying the main runway "does not conform to RSA (Runway Safety Area) design standards," according to an environmental impact statement prepared for the runway extension project.

The FAA is now reviewing the airport's application for $42 million in funding for the expansion.

Relocating the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway tracks, taking down the embankment, and cleanup would cost an estimated $89 million, Curry said.

The southeast end of the 7,000-foot main runway is 455 feet from the Grand Calumet River. A pocket of homes and streets sits on the other side, between the Grand Calumet and the Indiana Toll Road.

The proposed project would also take care of the lack of an appropriate buffer zone at that end of the runway.