September 5, 2006

Pryce Praises Heartland Corridor Agreement

Corridor Project, Intermodal Hub to Create 20,000 Central Ohio Jobs

WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Deborah Pryce (R-Columbus) hailed today’s news that a Memoranda of Agreement has been reached with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) allowing for the release of $95 million in federal funding for the Heartland Corridor rail double-stack clearance project. The accord reached by the states of Virginia, West Virginia and Ohio and the Norfolk Southern Railway Company is an important milestone in this transportation and economic development project.

“I congratulate the parties involved in the memoranda for keeping this project moving,” said Pryce. “Central Ohio’s decade-old dream of being an inland port is on the verge of becoming a reality, and soon Rickenbacker will reap incalculable benefits from being commercially linked to Norfolk, Virginia. Today’s agreement is yet another important step toward unleashing the economic goliath that Rickenbacker will soon become.”

Pryce was instrumental in helping to secure the $95 million included in the recently enacted transportation bill (SAFETEA-LU) for the Heartland Corridor project, which provides the infrastructure enhancements necessary to connect central Ohio to Norfolk, Virginia, via rail line. This money will go toward widening bridges and tunnels along that route to allow trains to carry double-stacked containers north from Norfolk.

Pryce also worked with the central Ohio delegation to secure $21.5 million in SAFETEA-LU for the construction of an intermodal hub at Rickenbacker -- a 300-acre yard on the facility’s south side where cargo can be transferred between different modes of transportation such as trains, planes and automobiles.   It is estimated that with a double-stacked route, the Rickenbacker Intermodal Facility will contribute more than $1.1 billion to the local and state economies over the next 20 years.

“The intermodal hub – when commercially linked to the mid-Atlantic states by the Heartland Corridor -- will create thousands of high-paying jobs for central Ohioans, serve as a shot of adrenaline in the central Ohio economy, and spur profound economic growth throughout the region.  With our federal backing, Rickenbacker is becoming an astonishing job generator and boon to our area’s economy.”

With the Memoranda of Agreement finalized, the parties can now complete work on the necessary engineering and environmental studies. It is expected that the clearance construction will be completed by the end of 2009.