This northern Indiana city appeared to finish 2003 with the nation's highest per capita homicide rate for the ninth straight year, according to police statistics.
Police in Gary, population 103,000, investigated 69 suspicious deaths, 68 of which have been classified as homicides.

I would avoid it. Gary is no longer the town Ron Howard sang about...

If your driving and remain on the interstates you should be perfectly fine. We've drove "through" Gary on the skyway a few times without any problems at all.

I wouldn't worry about murder if you are going on the expressways. The awful thing about Gary is x-way traffic backups. I once waited 2+ hours in the summer heat waiting for someone to clear up a minor traffic accident way down the line. Lots of trucks, traffic, backups, especially weekdays after 3 p.m. and before 10 a.m. When traffic clears, all going 70 in 55 speed zone. Some days good, some days bad. I don't think any of the accidents were caused by homicides.

As long as you are on the expressway or skyway, you are fine. Even if you have to stop for gas during the day, you are fine.

Gary, Indiana was never exactly a charming little tourist town!! And don't forget when Ron Howard sang that song in The Music Man, it was supposed to all be a lie anyway. Gary hadn't been built yet when Harold Hill supposedly went to the "imaginary" conservatory of music there. He made it all up.

Pat2003
Gary, as Patrick, stated is not a charming little town. However, as much as I love Chicago, and we go often, here's one of todays top stories: CHICAGO (Jan. 1) - Despite a sharp drop in homicides, Chicago has regained a title it didn't want: America's murder capital.
The city finished 2003 with 599 homicides, police said Thursday. That was down from 648 a year earlier and the first time since 1967 that the total dipped below 600.

Thank you all for your opinions. We need to go to Chicago for business. However, we love Chicago because of restaurants and nice people.

Actually, Gary was once a charming destination. I know because I grew up there. Because of the natural dunes, the lakeshore became a national park. An ornate public building, bath houses and a Japanese garden were built there as a WPA project during the Depression. I can't imagine how many wedding albums have scenes from the park in the background. Gary was a vacation destination for Chicagoans who spent the day on the water and then ate lake perch at one of several Miller Beach restaurants on their way home. The steel industry made middle class lives possible for thousands of families who shopped, ate and saw movies downtown. A special treat during my childhood was a hot fudge sundae with the hot fudge in a separate silver pitcher at the Hotel Gary. Then the steel industry collapsed and everybody -- including our family -- packed up and left.

In any case, if you're driving, be sure to follow the traffic reports as you cross the state line into Illinois. Sometimes the expressway is clear when the toll road is not, and vice versa.