The St Louis Regional Freightway 2017
Q&A with John Nations, president and CEO of the Bi-State Development Agency, and Mary Lamie, executive director of the St. Louis Regional Freightway District
IBJ: Why did Bi-State launch the St. Louis Regional Freightway District? Nations: We’re very proud of that. St. Louis has key transportation assets. This is the northernmost point you can go on the Mississippi River completely unrestricted by locks and dams. There is tremendous highway capacity and airport capacity. Six of the seven…
Read MoreTerminal Railroad Association, owners, pledging $136 million to Merchants Bridge
By ALAN J. ORTBALS One of the keys to success of the St. Louis Regional Freightway effort is the strength of the area’s railroads. Railroads are divided into three classes based on their operating revenue. Class I railroads are those with operating revenue in excess of $250 million and carry the most volume of freight.…
Read MoreMidAmerica St. Louis Airport entertains international cargo carrier prospects
By ALAN J. ORTBALS MASCOUTAH — MidAmerica St. Louis Airport, one of two international airports in metro St. Louis, boasts a 10,000-foot runway, 17 acres of aircraft parking ramps and 2,300 acres of developable land with immediate access to Interstate 64 and all of it backed by a Foreign Trade Zone and Illinois Enterprise Zone. …
Read MoreInternational agribusinesses developing Sauget riverfront
By ALAN J. ORTBALS Development of materials handling facilities along the Sauget riverfront has been booming in recent years. Rich Sauget, Sr., president of East County Enterprises, said that it started about eight years ago when the Archer Daniels Midland Co., a global agribusiness company headquartered in Chicago, built a terminal on the river. They’ve…
Read MoreAmerica’s Central Port harbor improvements aim for cargo carriers
By ALAN J. ORTBALS America’s Central Port has been busily working on expansions, additions and improvements over the last year, including the erection of a new 126,000-square-foot distribution facility that is now fully leased. A 25,000-square-foot distribution building has also been leased. And, 4.5 new miles of new rail track was finished late last…
Read MoreAgriculture freight network in region poised for growth
GRANITE CITY — One 15-mile section of the Mississippi River in the St. Louis region delivers the highest level of grain barge handling capacity anywhere along the Mighty Mississippi — so much so that it is now being called the “Agriculture or Ag Coast” of the nation in terms of barge transfer facilities for…
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