BY MARTIN ZABELL, Times of Northwest Indiana Correspondent
GARY | The plan to expand the Gary/Chicago International Airport took another step forward Wednesday as the airport authority's board approved four expansion-related projects.
The projects include authorizing attorneys to negotiate the purchase of four parcels of land, resolving to purchase 59 acres of land so a company could move there from the airport and approving contracts to relocate power lines and eliminate one lane of a road adjacent to Cline Avenue.
All the decisions by the Gary/Chicago International Airport Authority Board were unanimous and came with little debate. Airport director Chris Curry and engineer Ken Ross said afterward that the above projects will help the airport's plans to finish the runway expansion project.
"(The parcels) are critical," said Ross. "We have to acquire these parcels."
Currently, the airport has two runways -- one that is 3,600 feet long and 100 feet wide and one that is 7,000 feet long and 150 feet wide. Airport officials want to extend the 7,000-foot runway to 8,900 feet, a project that necessitates moving part of the nearby railroad line and buying about 200 acres of land.
It is anticipated that the runway will be complete in 2009.
On Wednesday, the airport authority board voted for two contracts that are part of the expansion plan. The board approved the expenditure of $972,407 to Jackson, Mich.-based Commonwealth & Associates to bury power lines underground and $441,383 to Gary-based Reith Riley Construction Co. to eliminate one lane of a frontage road to make room for the new railroad tracks.
The part of the tracks that need to be moved are northwest of the airport, but is on land where the extended runway will be built. The new tracks will be northwest of the current tracks, will loop northwest toward Cline and then run east-west north of Chicago Avenue.
"(Moving the tracks) eliminates an obstacle and allows us to attract more commercial aircraft and a variety of aircraft," said Curry.
Prior to Wednesday, the airport had made offers on five parcels of land. At the meeting, the board authorized negotiations for four more parcels, including land owned and leased by Truck City appraised at $785,000 and vacant land owned by a company named Beemsterboer that has been appraised at $1,325,000.
A few more parcels need to be purchased, added Ross.
The board also wants to buy 59 acres of land near 25th Avenue and Taft Street from the city of Gary. Truck City will then find and buy 15 acres of land there for the truck repair facility it has to move. The airport will then sell back the remaining 44 acres to the city.