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Keith Benman
The NWI Times
Aviation firms say Gary airport project can happen
Two nationally recognized aviation project management firms told the Gary/Chicago International Airport authority that a 2015 deadline for completing its expansion plan can be met.
Teams from CDM and AECOM both pitched their services at an authority meeting at the airport administration building Thursday, competing to win a contract that could be worth millions of dollars to their firms.
"We understand this airport can be an economic engine for the region and you are at the threshold right now," said Andres Garcia, an associate vice president for transportation at AECOM.
Protracted negotiations with railroads on moving tracks that block the runway expansion, which have gone on for years, can now be resolved within months, said representatives from both companies.
"Basically all the ingredients to move forward are in place," said Bill Burgel, a rail expert for engineering firm HDR working on the CDM team. "You folks have done a lot of work to date."
The airport authority on Thursday also took a vote on the Gary Jet Center's $7 million hangar and flight center project. Disagreements on lease terms and other matters had delayed the vote for more than a month.
The authority board on Thursday voted 5-0 in favor of a lease deal that will have the Gary Jet Center paying $3,999 per month in rent to the airport, with the airport paying to demolish an aging hangar that sits in the projects' way.
The airport authority must still authorize issuing bonds for the project, which the Gary Jet Center will be responsible for paying back.
But most of the meeting attended by a number of contractors, interested residents and members of the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority was taken up by the presentations by AECOM and CDM.
There have been questions about whether the airport project could be completed in time to qualify for the full $57.8 million the Federal Aviation Administration reserved for it under a letter of intent in 2006. That money must be spent by 2015.
In 2006, airport officials had optimistically predicted the project could be complete as early as this year.
Airport Authority President Nathaniel Williams said his board could select one of the firms for the job as early as its next regularly scheduled meeting in July.
"We have to look at this quarter to make some type of decision and get someone in here," Williams said.
RDA Chairman Leigh Morris and board member Harley Snyder attended Thursday's meeting to hear the corporate pitches. On Wednesday, the RDA board passed a resolution saying it would pitch in funding for the capital project manager contract as long as it can be used as part of the local match for FAA funding.
"This is a chance for us at the RDA to make a substantial investment in a local economic development project that will bring back much more money than we put in ," said RDA Executive Director Bill Hanna.
The expansion project will lengthen the Gary airport's main runway to 8,900 feet from its current 7,000 feet, allowing it to handle large planes and staving off an FAA action to cut about 1,000 feet off the current runway.
Airport authority members had numerous questions for the firms on the timing of the expansion project, environmental remediation and how to speed up the process. Board members also wanted to know if AECOM's work on the proposed Illinois airport at Peotone would present a conflict of interest for the firm.
Garcia said AECOM is also doing work on the O'Hare International Airport expansion for Chicago's Department of Aviation, which, like Gary, sees Peotone as unwanted competition.
"I think it actually gives us a better understanding of the region's situation and market," Garcia said. "We see that as an advantage rather than as a competing interest."
This article ran on nwitimes.com on June 25, 2010.
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