Build the intermodal facility, like it or not
August 20th, 2008 at 09:20am Matthew
Montgomery County will get the new intermodal facility, like it or not. The state agreed with Norfolk Southern yesterday to go ahead with the project, despite outcry from the local Board of Supervisors.
The commonwealth announced Tuesday it is backing Norfolk Southern’s plan to build an intermodal rail yard in Elliston. Virginia Transportation Secretary Pierce Homer called it “a major announcement for the commonwealth and the greater Roanoke area and, frankly, for the entire United States of America.”
Homer said he hopes the yard will be operating in about two years. NS spokesman Robin Chapman said the schedule hasn’t been set yet.
An intermodal rail yard transfers trailer-sized containers between trucks and rail cars. This intermodal facility will be part of the Heartland Corridor, a $249 million project that aims to move doubled-stacked freight containers between Columbus, Ohio, and Norfolk faster and more efficiently.
Homer’s announcement ended a process that began its public phase in May 2006, when Gov. Tim Kaine and NS officials announced that the freight terminal would be built near Roanoke. The site the company had settled on then is the site that was confirmed Tuesday.
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The Elliston site has drawn vocal opposition from the community’s residents and from the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors, which has passed three resolutions against using the Elliston site, saying it conflicts with county zoning and with the county’s comprehensive plan. But federal law exempts railroads from local zoning, and it allows them to condemn property.
That may not be necessary in this case. The only significant support for the project that’s come from Elliston was a petition from nine of 10 landowners saying they are not opposed to the project so long as they are fairly compensated.
In most scenarios, the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors would be correct. With this particular plan, however, they are not.
Private property rights have long been forgotten in the United States, and if the state really wanted to build the facility, it would be built despite local objections. In this case though, the landowners affected support the project and want it to move forward.
This project has a simple translation - jobs.
“This is indeed a bright day for the Roanoke Valley and Southwest Virginia,” Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke County, said at the announcement. Goodlatte, who was instrumental in getting some of the initial federal funding for the Heartland Corridor, agreed with Homer’s assertions that the project will take trucks off roads, save fuel and reduce pollution. But those are big-picture benefits.
“The No. 1 benefit of this will be to the people of this region who will benefit from the creation of many new jobs,” Goodlatte said.
Goodlatte’s 6th district challenger, Sam Rasoul, said “I think it’s a needed facility up and down the I-81 corridor.” Mr. Rasoul added, “It will have a direct impact on the constituency of the Roanoke Valley.”
This won’t just mean jobs for those in and around Elliston, but all over the Roanoke and New River Valleys. With this facility, the Roanoke region will be all the more inviting for investment. Estimates are as high as 3,000 new jobs as an effect of the construction of this facility.
The state will be spending millions in taxpayer dollars to build this site, but it is a worthy investment. This could make Roanoke the crossroads between the East Coast and the Midwest. The millions out of taxpayer dollars will undoubtedly pay off.
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