Providing Commercial Access: Prescott Avenue Industrial Access Road
Local officials in Elmira Heights faced a major hurdle in their efforts to attract new businesses to an industrial area that had six major businesses and an older vacated facility ready for redevelopment. The problem was Prescott Avenue, the main road serving the area. The avenue had poor pavement and drainage, no curbing to control storm water, and no pedestrian sidewalks. Without significant road improvements, expansion was impossible. Cooperative funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission, the state, and the village enabled local officials to upgrade Prescott Avenue to meet industrial access road standards. As a result of the improvements, existing businesses expanded and the vacant manufacturing site was developed, securing over 500 jobs for the community. Saving Jobs and Preserving a Rail Line: Austin Powder Rail Project
When CSX announced plans in 1991 to abandon nine miles of rail serving the Austin Powder Company, local leaders in Vinton County, Ohio, were concerned. The powder plant was the county's largest private business, providing more than 260 local jobs. Working closely with Austin Powder officials, community leaders decided to try to save the rail line and sought support from the city of Jackson, in adjacent Jackson County, which already had acquired over 50 miles of track from CSX in an effort to sustain local industry. The city of Jackson secured funding to acquire the Austin Powder line and arranged for the Indiana and Ohio (I&O) short line railroad to operate and maintain the track. In January 1994, the city arranged to transfer track operation and maintenance from I&O to the Great Miami and Scioto Railway Company. Instead of closing, the Austin Powder Company invested $4 million to expand its plant, creating 50 new jobs. The rail acquisition helped stabilize the local economy and maintain rail service to over ten local companies, currently employing over 1,500 people.
The Virginia Inland Port: Bringing Global Trade Opportunities to Appalachia
To capitalize on international trade opportunities, which offer strong growth potential for businesses and communities in Appalachia, it is essential to improve the Region's access to deep-water ports (which accommodate 90 percent of international cargo tonnage). Because the Region has only seven truck/rail transfer facilities, intermodal movements are often difficult and many Appalachian businesses must truck their products over long distances to reach the nearest port. A study by the Appalachia Transportation Institute at Marshall University found that businesses in the Region could incur 50 percent to 75 percent higher port access costs than their competitors, due to long-haul trucking requirements.
An important step in improving deep-water port access occurred in 1989, with the opening of the Virginia Inland Port (VIP), in Front Royal, Virginia, at the junction of I-81 and I-66. VIP is a U.S. Customs-designated port of entry, and a full range of customs functions is available to its customers. VIP is linked directly to its sister port in Norfolk by intermodal container trains. Developed by the Port of Virginia as an extension to its deep-water port facilities in Norfolk, VIP has become a national model for seamless, satellite port development through the application of a fully coordinated truck, rail, and marine intermodal transportation system. Container trucks connect businesses throughout the region to the VIP facility by highway, then special intermodal trains provide a coordinated, cost-effective link, moving the containers between the inland port and the ocean-going vessels from 75 international shipping lines in Norfolk. The 160-acre site now handles approximately 20,000 freight containers each year. Poultry, forest products, beverages, canned goods, and hundreds of other products move through the inland port facility every week. Having access to this full-service port facility, located 220 miles inland, provides major transportation savings for a growing number of Appalachian businesses, and enables them to more successfully compete in the global marketplace. For more information, contact:
The Virginia Inland Port
Rt. 522 and 340 North
Front Royal, Virginia 22630
Telephone (800)-446-8098
www.vaports.com
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