Gary’s east-west spine
US 12 and US 20 come into Gary from the west together. Through downtown they split into a one-way pair between Bridge Street and Vermont Street: westbound on Fourth Avenue, eastbound on Fifth Avenue. Downtown they cross Broadway and pass the Knights of Columbus Building and the old Ralph Waldo Emerson School building.
East of downtown they pass U.S. Steel Yard, the home of the Gary SouthShore RailCats, then join into the six-lane Dunes Highway beside the South Shore Line. The Dunes Highway meets the north end of I-65 and has an interchange with I-90 before the two routes split in far eastern Gary.
After the split, US 20 becomes a shopping corridor through Aetna and Miller Beach and meets State Road 51 near the line between Gary and Lake Station. US 12 keeps the Dunes Highway name and passes south of the old Miller Town Hall into Indiana Dunes National Park.
An old road
The Dunes Highway is older than the US highway numbers. It started as the Old Chicago Road, was designated State Road 43, and was paved from 1922 under a Gary contractor, Ingwald Moe. It became US 12 and US 20 in 1926.
Dune and swale, inside the city
Gary holds the western part of Indiana Dunes National Park, including Miller Woods. The north side of Miller Woods has foredunes along Lake Michigan; the larger south side is rolling ridge and swale with oak savanna, home to the Karner blue butterfly. The Grand Calumet River rises in Marquette Park and runs through three lagoons there before heading west through the industrial lakefront. The ridge lines on this site come from that ground.
Pickup notes for US 12 and US 20
- Downtown: say whether the car is on Fourth, Fifth or a side street, and which block. One-way traffic makes the approach matter.
- Along the Dunes Highway: give the cross street or the nearest landmark; the truck will load from a side street or driveway rather than the highway.
- US 20 in Aetna and Miller Beach: houses sit on side streets off a busy road. The cross street is the key detail.
What we buy along US 12 and US 20
Junk, wrecked and scrap cars, running or not: cars that leak oil, cars with frame damage, and several cars at one address. Missing the title? We can still help. In Indiana the sale needs either the title or a BMV certificate of authority; tell us what papers you have and we’ll point you to the right one on the call.
For the towns west and south of Gary, from Whiting to Merrillville, see the rest of our Northwest Indiana area.