Gary/Chicago International Airport

News

Looking Down on Activity

The runway expansion project at the Gary Chicago International Airport covers a lot of ground. The best way to get a handle on it is from above. Recently, the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority commissioned Air One Photo (Valparaiso) to take a series of aerial photos of all the projects the organization was funding or assisting with. See below for a bird’s-eye view of the airport and ongoing work.

The brown area in the center of this photo is where clearing and grubbing work is being done in preparation for the extension of the runway, which can be seen just above this area. If you look closely, you can see train tracks (with, conveniently, a train on them) between the runway and the cleared area. These are the tracks which need to be moved before the extension can be built.

A closer look at the area being cleared from a different angle. The road cutting right-to-left along the center of the photo is Cline Avenue. Just above it, the dusty brown area is the site of the new box culvert. The new railroad tracks will run on top of this culvert when it’s finished. To the immediate right of that is a NIPSCO substation that was relocated as part of the project. To the right of the substation is what looks like an unfinished road. This is the “field of stones” mentioned in the previous newsletter. The new tracks will run over this course to rejoin the main line. On the left side of the picture, you may notice two tanks with a blank space for a third tank in between them. There was indeed once a tank in that spot, but it had to be moved due to FAA safety regulations.

A look from the opposite side of the airport. On the right side about two-thirds of the way down is a small railroad bridge. This is where the new tracks will veer off to the right. The brown area to the immediate right of the bridge is the former Roland property, where dynamic compaction work to prepare the ground for the weight of the trains, was recently finished.

06/14/2012

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