Transportation Grid Enhances Tenn. Business
Published Apr 08, 2008
The International Port of Memphis plays a key role in the transportation network.
Whether by land, air or water, if you’ve got to get it there, Tennessee has the transportation network to help you do it.
With a skilled workforce, good quality of life and strong business climate among its A-list attractions, the marketing moniker of ‘location, location, location’ is a key draw for business development – and Tennessee is in the right one.
“Certainly, it adds to your competitive edge to have more than one way to move raw materials and products,” says Wilton Burnett, special projects director for the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. “Tennessee’s primary asset is that it’s strategically located near interstate highways, airports and rail lines and within one day of three-fourth’s of the nation’s population.”
According to the Tennessee Department of Transportation, the 1,105-mile interstate system – encompassing seven major highways crisscrossing the state – is ranked 6th in the nation in cargo carried by trucks and has provided thousands of jobs. Interstate 40, a major link across the country, provides access to 20 Tennessee counties. And a proposed extension to I-69 is in the works, creating an interstate that will travel from Canada to Mexico.
Other transportation outlets – such as six major rail lines and 20 short line railroads, six commercial airports, 78 public/general aviation airports and 888 main channel miles of navigable rivers – are also huge assets in attracting and expanding business.
The city of Memphis is just one community that’s proven to be a transportation jewel for business development. The city boasts the world’s largest cargo airport and is home to five Class 1 railroads, standing in the company of only two other cities in the U.S. with this designation – Chicago and New Orleans.
Randy Richardson, deputy director of the International Port of Memphis, says that while there has been no real study conducted on the overall economic impact of the rail business, he has no doubts about its significance.
“I can tell you that there is in excess of 1.3 million containers coming into Memphis annually on rail consisting of appliances, electronics and other consumable goods,” Richardson says. “Just in the port complex alone, about 32,000 freight cars come through Presidents Island every year. These cars carry higher value products such as gasoline, chemical and materials. The number of jobs created continues to grow with expansion efforts as well.”
In the Jackson, Tenn., area, discussions are still in the infancy stages regarding the growth and future of the Kansas City Southern Railroad franchise. The company, which acquired the Mexican railway – TFM, now KCS de Mexico, is exploring options for expanding its operations there to speed up delivery times and edge costs.
“There’s some very strong potential emanating from the connection of a short line with Kansas City Southern, which is looking at possibly establishing a connection from the far East running from Mexico and Texas through Mississippi and Jackson,” says Tony Lynn, director of the West Tennessee Railroad District. “This would place them [Kansas City Southern] in the mid-section of the U.S. and provide a shorter distance than going through Oakland, Los Angeles and other California lines that are already overburdened.”
Story by K. Dawn Rutledge Jones
Current Weather Conditions In Nashville, TN (37243)
Partly Cloudy, and 56 ° F. For more details?
Click here...
