Business, Feature, Freight News, Road

Infrastructure Funds Benefit St. Louis

[ July 12, 2024   //   Gary G Burrows ]

Called “the gateway for freight transportation,” by one transportation official, the St. Louis metropolitan region is expecting nearly US$2.3 billion to fund infrastructure investment to advance key projects on both sides of the Mississippi River, the St. Louis Regional Freightway said.
The vital logistics hub in the heart of America has 27 projects, totaling US$8 billion, listed on its priority list either completed, current or planned for the bi-state region.
The St. Louis Regional Freightway, a bi-state development enterprise overseeing freight operations and opportunities within the St. Louis metropolitan area, comprising eight counties in southwestern Illinois and eastern Missouri.
“St. Louis really is the gateway for freight transportation,” said Shayne Gill, program director for multimodal transportation at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, or AASHTO, at the region’s recent FreightSummit. “You look at the movement not only east-west, but also north-south, and being in the central part of the country, the St. Louis region is key for multimodal freight connections.”
Gill said the region is taking advantage of federal funding that has not been there before, such as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, to support its significant infrastructure improvements. AASHTO hopes to see federal funding continue, to cover the cost of inflation and construction projects going forward.
“The ‘historic’ levels of funding really should be a baseline of funding moving forward,” Gill said, noting the region can rely on support from both states, both transportation departments, governors and elected officials on those projects at the federal level when the U.S. DOT is making those decisions.
The multimodal options “really sets you up for having better opportunities here for economic growth,” he said.

Putting Funds to Use

Gill cited several examples from among 27 projects on the St. Louis’ region’s priority projects list.
From a partially funded $2.8 billion investment, the region will:

• Create a new single terminal at St. Louis Lambert International Airport.
• Continue improvements on Interstate 270 in Missouri and Illinois.
• The recently replaced Merchants Bridge.
• Make improvements to the MacArthur Bridge which, along with the Merchants Bridge, provide freight rail service across the Mississippi River in the downtown St. Louis area.
  With recent economic studies finding that every US$1 of transportation investment produces US$4 in economic development, the St. Louis region’s latest US$2.3 billion in funding for priority projects translates into nearly US$10 billion in near-term economic impact for the bi-state region. The US$8 billion total for all 27 projects means completed, current and planned projects represent US$24 billion in economic impact for the bi-state region.
  Anticipating the next reauthorization bill, Gill said AASHTO would like to see more money go into the formula programs so that states and local governments have a more predictable level of funding to plan for projects.
  He said having discretionary programs for some of the larger mega projects, such as the work on I-270 that has received historic funding from both states, can have a dramatic impact on accelerating projects that otherwise would have taken 20 years or so to secure funding and be completed.
  In the private sector, he said companies such as Amazon and UPS are building warehousing facilities in places that they may not have thought of 10 years ago and the St. Louis region has benefitted from that shift.

Tags: St. Louis Regional Freightway