Article published August 05, 2009
Intermodal funding complete
Norfolk Southern's $12.8M project may start next summer
By DAVID PATCH
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Last week's action by the Ohio Controlling Board to release a $2.7 million state loan for expansion of Norfolk Southern's intermodal terminal in South Toledo completes the funding for the $12.8 million project, officials said yesterday.
And although an analysis projected that expanding the Toledo Intermodal Terminal's track capacity could generate nearly 900 permanent jobs over seven years, local leaders expect to have a much lower jobs target to shoot for in order for the Ohio Department of Development to forgive repayment of the loan.
The analysis was prepared by a local task force that studied options for developing Toledo's potential as an intermodal transportation and logistics center.
"We don't have the actual agreement with the state yet," Dave Amstutz, the city's economic development director, said at a news conference called by Mayor Carty Finkbeiner yesterday.
But the permanent employment the city will have to document to the state will involve only jobs at the rail terminal itself, he said, and that is "probably going to be in the single digits."
Increased employment at the terminal, where containerized freight would be transferred between railroad cars and trucks, will occur only if cargo activity there grows, and such growth would be accompanied by growth in sectors like warehousing and trucking, Mr. Amstutz said.Jim Tuschman, chairman of the Joint Intermodal Task Force that recommended focusing on the South Toledo site, also known as Air Line Junction, said project planners' goal is for construction to start by next summer, once the railroad has completed construction plans.
The project includes lengthening tracks, installing new switches and signals, and other improvements to allow the existing Norfolk Southern terminal to handle longer trains there. The current loading and unloading tracks are just 2,500 feet long, with plans to extend them to 5,000 feet.
By expanding the terminal's capacity, project planners hope to capture container cargo business that now passes through Toledo to go to Detroit or is trucked in from Chicago rail terminals.
Task-force interviews with local business leaders indicated that "if containers were available in our region, they would use containers," Mr. Tuschman said.
Rich Martinko, director of the University of Toledo's Intermodal Transportation Institute, said the retail, agribusiness, metals, food, and forest-products industries are particularly bullish on freight containerization.
He also repeated that the university strongly supports the terminal expansion, even though it will require closing a railroad crossing on Westwood Avenue. The crossing has been discussed at times as a possible link between the university's three main campuses if it were extended south across Swan Creek to connect with Arlington Avenue.
Besides the $2.7 million in state funds, the project's budget includes a $6.5 million federal grant and $3.8 million in improvements paid for by the railroad. Some of those improvements have already been made.
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