GARY —Construction crews started to remove a huge obstacle to the future of the Gary/Chicago International Airport on Monday morning as Canadian National officially cut over to a new set of tracks to make way for the completion of a $174 million runway expansion.

“The completion of the runway will serve as a catalyst for the expansion of greater market opportunity currently outside of our reach,” said interim airport director B.R. Lane. “As you know it’s been a long time coming. Over the course of time, those involved have come to realize that this is much more than a runway expansion project, this is a major transportation realignment.”

Representatives from the airport, government and the railroads praised the development at an outdoor ceremony on a stretch of the 1,900-foot runway extension that has already been paved. CN’s old tracks sat atop a berm which blocked the two sections from being connected, so the airport had to enter into detailed negotiations with CN to construct new tracks and for CSX to relocate its route through Gary so it wouldn’t intersect with the new CN route. The documents were signed Friday at CN’s offices in Chicago and filed with the Lake County Recorder’s Office late Friday afternoon.

The runway extension sprung from a federal mandate requiring expanding runway safety areas, but U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Merrillville, was credited with supporting the idea as far back as 1999. Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson and Lane also credited U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., with pushing the project to the finish line.

“I would be remiss if I didn’t give a special thank you to my big brother. It’s something to go into a meeting with a U.S. Senator blocking for you and I have had that pleasure and opportunity on a number of occasions. I just want to say thank you to Sen. Joe Donnelly,” Freeman-Wilson said. “We have a phenomenal U.S. Representative in person of Peter Visclosky and he has been championing this project I know for at least 15 years.”

The cut-over process is expected to be concluded by Tuesday afternoon, but CN will be removing old railroad tracks and gravel from the old route for the next two weeks. About 600 feet of the runway still needs to be paved.

Airport officials are eyeing June 25, 2015 as the completion date for the work, as the Federal Aviation Administration has mandated August 2015 as the deadline.

Lane said the focus is now firmly on the remaining environmental remediation work that needs to be done at the berm area and several old industrial properties in the airport’s footprint. Project Manager Dan Vicari said underground storage tanks have been leaking oil into ditches on the old PI&I, Occidental Petroleum and other sites, so environmental regulators have approved the installation of plastic piping to divert the oil and that the ditches be filled with stone.

The airport board also continued the process of securing an estimated $28 million in exempt facilities bonds by holding a public hearing. The bond issue, which is expected to occur in late November, will help finance the remaining portion of the runway extension and private development around the airport.

Last week, airport consultants gave a presentation before bond-rating agencies Standard & Poors and Fitch and they expect to receive their rating soon, said Melanie Shaker, a senior vice president with Sycamore Advisors. Diana Hamilton, president of Sycamore Advisors, said these type of bonds allow for more flexibility in terms of entering into contracts with private operators.