Consultant pitches intermodal logistics hub for Gary as city lines up downtown funding

At the State of the City event, planning consultant John Vickerman presented a conceptual intermodal logistics center that he said could position Gary as a regional freight processing hub and relieve freight congestion bound for Chicago.

Vickerman detailed how an intermodal facility would function—double‑stack and intermodal trains, electric cranes with zero local emissions, and warehousing and distribution centers—and described national freight flows that, he said, could be redirected or processed in Gary to create jobs and revenue. "These cranes are electric and have 0 air emissions. These are pure green," Vickerman said while describing the proposed terminal’s equipment.

Mayor Melton put a financial frame around downtown site‑readiness: he said $90,000,000 had been committed toward construction of a new downtown train station and that, more broadly, a combined $117,000,000 of commitments and grants were supporting downtown investment (the mayor referenced REDI/IEDC grants and other state resources as part of the total). He also described a transit development district boundary intended to capture incremental revenues that could support reinvestment in the corridor.

Why it matters: a regional intermodal terminal would carry implications for local jobs, tax base and traffic patterns. The proposal is at a conceptual and planning stage and would require additional public‑private financing and regulatory approvals.

Next steps: consultant study and developer outreach, alignment with state agencies and issuance of RFPs for site‑preparation and downtown projects.