Dive Brief:
- The St. Louis Regional Freightway was established in 2016 to promote the bistate area as a top level freight center and multimodal hub, Food Logistics reported. The Freightway's goal is to prepare the area for potential increases in freight volume in the upcoming decades.
- Since its launch, the project has excelled at coordinating both the public and private industry to promote capacity for goods traveling through St. Louis by rail, road, river and runway. Infrastructure improvements play a vital role in preparing for growth.
- An initiative designed to highlight the region's infrastructure needs to both the Illinois and Missouri Departments of Transportation has been communicated to elected leaders in hopes of gaining their advocacy for infrastructure funding.
Dive Insight:
A strong history of transport is powering the St. Louis Freightway initiative, which seeks to ensure the region optimizes its strategic location as a freight epicenter. Its goal is to accelerate regional economics through growth in manufacturing and logistics, while capitalizing on its multimodal transport capabilities. Both UPS and FedEx recently expanded in the area, which may have inspired a spate of real estate investors to build on existing warehousing in hopes of drawing distribution centers.
The region hosts six Class I railroads. The Port of St. Louis, plus St. Louis Lambert and MidAmerica Airport are in close proximity. Perhaps most important to the region's hopes of attracting manufacturing is its available workforce. Manufacturing suppliers are also nearby.
The area is pitching hard to advance itself. However, despite its plentiful business-friendly amenities, infrastructure needs remain, as the region faces the same repair needs as most of the rest of the country. Last evaluated by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in 2013, the state received a C- grade over all, with none of its infrastructure receiving higher than a C grade on aviation, bridges, roads, dams, energy, inland waterways or levees.
