Norfolk Southern will spend $112 million on McCalla terminal
(The following story by Michael Tomberlin appeared on the Birmingham News website on July 10, 2009.)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. Norfolk Southern said today it will invest $112 million on a new cargo-loading terminal on 316 acres in McCalla. The railroad company said construction will start early next year and the facility is set to open in 2012.
The economic impact on Alabama could reach $4 billion by 2020, a Norfolk Southern spokesman told reporters at a press event this morning. In that same time period, the railroad company is expected to add 600 jobs, while the project could generate as many as 8,000 spin-off jobs.
The intermodal facility will be built on land adjacent to its existing rail line in what is currently mostly farm land. The southwestern edge of the site is adjacent to the McAdory Elementary School.
The facility will be served by six intermodal trains a day, two more than currently run on the Norfolk Southern tracks through McCalla. It will have three loading tracks, 1,440 paved trailer/container parking spaces with a capacity to handle 165,000 truck trailers and shipping containers per year.
Rudy Husband, spokesman for Norfolk Southern, said the company has either purchased or has options to purchase all of the land needed for the project.
The site plan revealed today calls for an access road to run along the railroad right-of-way to another piece of property the railroad has already purchased behind the Sadler Ridge subdivision. That piece of property will give the new facility access to McAshan Drive for the hundreds of trucks that could end up visiting the facility daily.
The facility moves shipping containers between trucks and rail to make the shipping of goods more efficient along the railroad's 2,500-mile Crescent Corridor from New Orleans to New Jersey. The facility hopes to reduce the number of long-haul trucks needed to carry the cargo, reducing the amount of fuel used and increasing safety on interstate highways.
A group of residents in the area have formed No Hub 4 McCalla, an opposition group that fears the new facility will bring unwanted noise, traffic and pollution, driving down property values in the rapidly growing area and making the neighborhood unsafe.
Monday, July 13, 2009
-- Edited by Troll on Monday 13th of July 2009 12:04:54 PM
McCalla residents upset over possible plans for railroad terminal in their community
(The following story by Michael Tomberlin appeared on the Birmingham News website on July 10, 2009.)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. McCalla residents showed up in force Thursday at the Jefferson County Courthouse railing against Norfolk Southern's plans to build a terminal in their area - even though the railroad hasn't announced an exact location for the project.
More than 100 McCalla residents attended the Jefferson County Planning & Zoning Commission meeting to voice opposition to the intermodal facility they believe is planned for their backyards.
Norfolk Southern has scheduled a press conference for 10 a.m. today to reveal elements of its plans, including the location.
"All I can tell you today is we have selected a site in Jefferson County," Rudy Husband, Norfolk Southern spokesman, said in an interview Thursday.
Norfolk Southern had said it wants to invest $90 million on a terminal that would take cargo containers from trucks and place them on rail cars. The project would create hundreds if not thousands of jobs, it says.
Residents in the McCalla community have formed No Hub 4 McCalla, an organization committed to fighting the development. They fear the project will drive down property values, create environmental and traffic problems and disrupt the tranquillity of the area.
"We feel like this is a dirty bomb set off in the fastest growing area of Jefferson County," said John Loper, pastor of Garywood Assembly of God, which spent millions of dollars on a new church in the area.
In addition to expressing their outrage, many residents had several questions about the project, though elected officials had few answers.
State Rep. Pat Moore, R-Pleasant Grove, said she first learned about the project last week when she received an invitation to an event announcing the facility slated for July 16. Only when she began searching for answers did she learn the project is heading to McCalla.
"It's not any small thing coming here," she warned. "This is gigantic."
When one resident asked what this is going to mean to their community, Moore pulled no punches.
"It's going to destroy it," she said. "That's my personal opinion."
Jefferson County Commissioner Bobby Humphryes said the railroad falls under federal law, so the county's zoning laws do not apply. He said if the railroad purchases the property, little can be done to prevent it from building on the site.
"All I know is they've been buying property," he said. "They haven't asked the county for any money."
Residents believe the property Norfolk Southern is buying is somewhere between McAshan Drive and McAdory Elementary School and between Eastern Valley Road and the railroad tracks.
The project is part of Norfolk Southern's $2 billion expansion of the Crescent Corridor that aims to use a network of terminals and railway improvements along a 2,500-mile rail line from New Jersey to New Orleans. Officials have said the facility could create up to 600 direct jobs and as many as 8,000 spin-off jobs.
Husband said the railroad is planning a public meeting to address concerns of citizens on Aug. 18, though a location of the meeting has yet to be determined.
