Gary, IN Stakes Its Claim For Third Major Chicagoland
Airport
Indiana officials
announced earlier this week the US Department of Transportation is
expected to approve $57.8 million in funds to expand and improve
Gary/Chicago International Airport -- meaning Gary, IN may soon
host the third major airport in the Chicagoland region.
"This is a day of celebration there because after a decade of
trying, we will be announcing that the federal government has
chosen Gary for the new Gary-Chicago airport for tens of millions
of dollars," said Indianapolis governor Mitch Daniels in a Monday
press conference, reported in the Chicago Tribune.
That comes as good news to state and city officials, who have
sought for years to improve Gary's impact and image relative to its
much larger neighbor. Those in Peotone, IL may not be as pleased,
however -- as they are also being considered to host the
airport.
"[Gary] will be a reality on the ground, capable of serving
people's needs, and not just a cornfield someplace," Indiana
Senator Evan Bayh said, referring to Peotone's bid for the
airport.
Perhaps most importantly, Gary has geography on its side -- as
the city is 15 miles closer to downtown Chicago than Peotone.
While GYY does not currently meet federal runway safety
guidelines, the funds would help bring Gary up to those standards,
as well as allowing improvements to GYY's terminal and other
facilities to attract commercial airlines.
GYY has been without scheduled commercial airline service since
Hooters Air temporarily halted its flights to the airport last
year. City officials say that illustrious carrier is expected to
resume service from Gary in March -- and they hope that's just a
beginning.
In all, city officials have requested as much as $90 million
over the next 10 years to make improvements needed to handle an
expected threefold increase in passenger loads by 2012, according
to the Tribune.
Expansion plans are also expected to bring as many as 300 jobs
to Gary, at a time when the industrial city is combating
unemployment rates as high as 16 percent.
For years, Chicago officials have debated the need for a third
airport to handle overflow and relieve congestion at O'Hare and
Midway airports. With recent issues at Midway -- and the lack of
other relievers such as, say, Meigs Field -- that debate will
likely focus on Gary.