Gary/Chicago International Airport must accomplish several major tasks in the coming months to keep expansion plans on track and federal bucks flowing.
The first priority of airport officials is reaching a final deal with Canadian National Railway Co. on moving tracks that sit just 130 feet from the end of the airport's main runway, which is slated for a 1,900-foot expansion.
"I know with politicians there can be a feeling of indecision on whether we should keep going," said Airport Director Chris Curry when asked about progress on the expansion plan. "But there is no indecision on the part of the airport."
Staying on schedule
The airport must remain on schedule for spending approximately $6 million per year in Federal Aviation Administration funding, which will total $57.8 million by 2015.
So far, land acquisition and other projects have kept the airport on schedule for spending the money, according to both FAA and airport figures.
"It's good to see all this stuff because we want to see Gary moving ahead," FAA spokesman Tony Molinaro said when asked about progress at the airport. "We still believe it's a runway that is needed very much in this area."
Not everyone is sure the airport is on the right flight path.
"Getting the railroad track moved is important, but getting some positive revenue in there is also important," said state Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso.
Privatization
Soliday and other Republican state officials, including Gov. Mitch Daniels, have been pitching privatization of the Gary airport for at least the past two years. This June, they inserted language in the state budget bill that would make sure any lease proceeds from a privatization were turned over to the city of Gary.
Soliday, a former vice president at United Airlines, said he doesn't know if privatization would be any help in overcoming the myriad obstacles the expansion faces, but he is sure it could help bring airlines to the airport.
"They are good people on that board (Gary airport authority), but the aviation business is a thin-margin, highly competitive business. And you need people in management roles that understand aviation," Soliday said.
Other airport boosters, including an important local funder of the expansion project, say they are focused on working as a team with airport management.
"There is a recognition by everyone involved that this is a partnership, whether it be the runway extension or another business aspect of the airport," said Bill Hanna, executive director of the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority.
Strategic plan
The RDA and the airport are jointly funding a $449,732 effort to draft a business and strategic plan for the airport. Hanna said that plan, to be drawn up by aviation consultant Landrum & Brown and due this spring, should provide some answers regarding whether privatization could help the airport.
The RDA already has approved $20 million in funding for the expansion project, which came from funds the General Assembly earmarked for the project out of the $3.8 billion the state received from the 2006 lease of the Indiana Toll Road.
That money has been used for land acquisition, moving a Citgo oil tank and to help pay for relocation of high-voltage power lines that blocked the flight path to the new runway.
Those projects together cost $23.6 million, about a quarter of the total runway expansion project cost of $92 million.
One other major project, the lowering of the Indiana Toll Road at the southeast end of the main runway, is under way.
But moving the railroad tracks, the single biggest project within the expansion plan, also has proven to be the single biggest obstacle.
New tracks
Airport officials hope to begin constructing new railroad tracks for Canadian National by spring -- if a final agreement can be concluded in the next several months. With an estimated price tag of $50 million, it is the biggest ticket item in the expansion plan.
The airport plans to use $18 million to $20 million in FAA funds for the project and plans to apply to the RDA for additional funds, Curry said.
When the FAA announced in February 2006 that it was ready to grant the airport $57.8 million for the expansion, airport officials said the rail relocation project could be completed within two years.
Moving the tracks, then owned by the EJ&E Railway, didn't happen because two other railroads involved in the original negotiations demanded tens of millions of dollars in improvements to their own tracks, Curry said. Also, in September 2007, Canadian National announced its intention to buy the tracks from EJ&E.
Canadian National's protracted closing on the EJ&E purchase in effect put negotiations on hold for more than a year.
Replacement land
The airport also is seeking the condemnation of 103 acres of land owned by Gary Community School Corp. It needs the land to satisfy federal requirements that any sensitive habitats destroyed by the expansion be replaced.
The dispute with the School Board -- the airport originally offered $368,000 for the land -- also provided an unexpected stumbling block, Curry said.
The last major obstacle the expansion faces remains environmental contamination, which still must be fully explored before remediation plans can be put in place. About 150 of the 170 acres purchased by the airport for the expansion are contaminated to some degree, Curry said.
That includes a decades-old oil spill from the Conservation Chemical property, where the EPA already has spent $1.5 million on cleanup. The airport and EPA are working out a plan to remediate and monitor that site.
"The good part about our airport is you have a lot of open space surrounding it," Curry said. "But the bad part is you have a lot of industrial activity that has gone on there for years and all the issues that come with that."
Status update: airport expansion
Done
Land purchases: 170 acres purchased -- $5.5 million
Power line relocation: High voltage NIPSCO lines buried, substation built -- $15.7 million
Citgo tank relocation: $2.4 million
Environmental permits: Environmental permit No. 1 issued for rail relocation
Chicago Avenue ramp relocation: $400,000
Bond reserve fund: established for $2 million
To do:
CN track relocation: New route agreed to in June, final negotiations underway -- $50 million*
Indiana Toll Road lowering: Now under way, to be complete by in 2010, part of $250 million project
Runway and taxiway extension; not started, $23.8 million
Environmental permit No. 2: school land condemnation proceedings underway
* To do price tags are estimates
Sources: Gary/Chicago International Airport Authority, Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority Comprehensive Economic Development Plan
