Join WWJ Newsradio 950 for a business breakfast titled The Future Of Transportation In Southeast Michigan, happening at the Anderson Theatre at The Henry Ford on May 15, 2008. This breakfast is an official event of National Transportation Week.
This two panel conference, moderated by WWJ's Murray Feldman, will discuss Detroit's future in moving freight and moving people. How can Detroit's existing infrastructure be leveraged to drive economic growth for the region? How do plans for the Aerotropolis, the Port of Detroit - our under-rated/under-valued resource, customs and borders play a role in Detroit's transportation future?
Part One: "Moving Freight"
Part Two: "Moving People"
In 2006, Erie Township residents feared US Rail wanted to use eminent domain to seize private property for private development. The residents won the fight.
http://www.erieenraged.com - Erie Neighbors & Residents Against Eminent Domain
Timeline of the fight between private property owners and US Rail.
Some other facts from that failed attempt to steal private property :
I think I read in a 2006 Toledo Free Press story that I cannot find, that one of the Toledo area groups like the Port Authority or the Regional Growth Partnership supported the Erie Township intermodal project, which means this Toledo area group indirectly supports the seizing of private property for private development.
July 2006 : Monroe City Council passes resolution to support Erie Township residents :
September 2006 : Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm says she supports Erie residents
December 2006 : Erie Township site out of running for rail yard :
Such a rail yard is predicted to fill a $400 million industrial park to be built nearby, said Howard Moss, executive vice president of Great Lakes Development, which is part of Global Partners. Together, the rail yard and industrial park are expected to create 5,000 jobs — most paying $10 to $20 an hour — within 10 years of construction, Mr. Moss said.
Mr. Moss said it was impossible to put a time line on the project until Global Partners has an agreement for land. He declined to say if the group has offers on land. But he reiterated that it will not use eminent domain, as an opposition group has said it fears. Mr. Moss said the rail yard would use new technology that would make it one of the five most efficient such yards in the country. The closest large rail yard to Toledo is in Chicago.2005 Supreme Court case : Kelo v. City of New London :
The decision was widely criticized by American politicians and the general public. Many members of the general public viewed the outcome as a gross violation of property rights and as a misinterpretation of the Fifth Amendment, the consequence of which would be to benefit large corporations at the expense of individual homeowners and local communities.
Ohio
An attempted use of eminent domain was brought before the Ohio supreme court in Norwood, Ohio v. Horney. The Supreme Court of Ohio held in favor of the property owners.
Michigan
Michigan passed a restriction on the use of eminent domain in November 2006, Proposition 4, 80% to 20%. The text of the ballot initiative was as follows
A PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO PROHIBIT GOVERNMENT FROM TAKING PRIVATE PROPERTY BY EMINENT DOMAIN FOR CERTAIN PRIVATE PURPOSES The proposed constitutional amendment would:
More from the December 2006 Toledo Blade story about Erie Township not getting a rail yard :
His partner David Hall, who is president of Great Lakes, said Monroe County is preferable for the project because it would provide access to a single-line railroad service from the Pacific Ocean via the Canadian National railroad. Canadian National serves several ports in British Columbia and has a rail line into Toledo from the north that ends near a freight yard that parallels I-75, south of Alexis Road.
But Mr. Hall and others had said earlier this year that insufficient land was available near the Canadian National tracks on the Toledo side of the Ohio-Michigan border to build the container-transfer facility there. Locating on any other rail line in metro Toledo would require cargoes to be exchanged from one railroad to another somewhere in their journey from any Pacific port.
The rail networks of Norfolk Southern and CSX Transportation, the other two major railroads serving the city, go only as far west as Kansas City and St. Louis, respectively, and both perform most of their western exchanges in Chicago.April 2008 - Glass City Jungle : Intermodal aspirations :
May 2008 - Glass City Jungle : More on intermodal, transportation and personal vendettas? :
As discussed earlier, Toledo has had intermodal aspirations for well over a decade. The problem continues to be that we don’t seem to put any of the dreams into plans and other parts of Northwestern Ohio are. When a potential like this exists:
Apr 20, 2008 - Toledo Blade : 'Other Ohio' falls short on transit panel; 55-member task force has only 2 from Toledo area
May 4, 2008 - Toledo Blade : City could benefit if shipping project sails in Nova Scotia
It's too bad that existing industrial property within Toledo could no be reused. Some complain about land usage and sprawl in outlying communities for development projects, such as housing divisions, malls, and big box stores. An intermodal project is industrial sprawl. Regardless of where an intermodal site lands, prime farmland or natural habitat like the Oak Openings Region will be destroyed.
Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments : On the Move 2007-2035 Transportation Plan
From the policies file:
Freight Goal: Our region will be a world-class multi-modal freight transportation hub
Policy 8: To strengthen our role as a freight transportation hub, our region will work together to implement Lake Erie West Global Logistics Hub business plan. This plan comprises four major freight facilities: Toledo Express Global Logistics Park (see Policy 9), Trans-Pacific Inland Port (see Plan Project 1 and Policy 10), Golden Triangle Distribution Corridor, and the Toledo Seaport (see Policy 11). We will identify needed improvements/ resources; support public/private infrastructure investment for the sites, and connectivity between them (on public roads or off-road).
Policy 9: A regional priority is to expand use of the air freight mode and use of air facilities as intermodal hubs. This will include increasing airport capacity throughout the region and providing good road access. We will develop Toledo Express Airport as a major intermodal hub, to be known as the “Toledo Express Global Logistics Park,” with needed infrastructure improvements (including Plan Projects C-3, 4, 59 and 60) and creation of a “transportation opportunity district.”
Policy 10: To expand freight capacity, we will work to increase use of and multi-modal access to rail freight. This will include supporting development of a Trans-Pacific Inland Port (see Plan Project 1), a rail/truck container facility designed to capture major freight flows from Asia, for distribution to the Midwest and eastern U.S.
Policy 11: Our region has an opportunity to expand waterborne freight movement. To do so, we will work to increase rail access to the Toledo Seaport, and we will support maximized use of the St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes water system.
Policy 12: It is essential for our role as a freight hub to improve road access and capacity for trucks, and reduce modal conflicts. As part of this policy, we support:
Web site: The University of Toledo Intermodal Transportation Institute
The University of Toledo has been designated a National University Transportation Center by the U.S. Department of Transportation. UT will be awarded $2 million over a four-year period to advance significantly state-of-the-art transportation research and expand the work force of transportation professionals. The University, and the UT Intermodal Transportation Institute specifically, will play a regional leadership role in developing improved intermodal supply-chain systems and alternative transportation methods and technologies such as hybrid-electric, fuel cell and bio-diesel technologies.
From the policies file:
Research Goal Statement: Our region will be a center of transportation research and innovation.
Policy 13: We need to diversify fuels for transportation, to insure fuel will be available on a long-term basis, with reduced dependence on foreign sources. To do so, our region will:
Policy 14: With the amount of transported freight expected to double in the next 15 years, we need innovative ways to move goods more efficiently. Therefore, it is our region’s policy that:
Policy 15: To build on regional strengths, we need to support/expand transportation logistics and supply chain research in the region. This research should include looking at the potential to coordinate transportation to common suppliers/locations.
Policy 16: To enhance economic and technical development, our region will work to establish the identity of the Toledo Science and Technology corridor and the movement of people and ideas within this corridor.
Policy 17: Our region supports creating innovative traffic systems to improve traffic flow, such as modern roundabouts (see Policy 19), coordinated signal timing on all major arterials, and freeway management systems and other Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS).
May 2, 2008 - Toledo Blade : Planned CSX terminal is part of national project :
Of $300 million of its own money CSX has committed to the project, $130 million is to be spent in Ohio, including $80 million for the new North Baltimore terminal and $50 million for expansion of a rail yard in south Columbus. But CSX is seeking public funds, primarily to replace road overpasses that are too low for trains carrying freight containers stacked two-high on flatcars to pass beneath.
Over the past quarter century, so-called "double-stack" trains have become the railroad industry's most efficient means for transporting containerized freight, both in conjunction with ocean ship lines and on routes within North America.
In meeting with local officials to plan for the North Baltimore terminal, CSX officials indicated one of its key purposes would be sorting shipments received at Chicago from railroads serving Pacific ports into new trains bound for points throughout CSX's network. Such shipments today are often unloaded at the western railroads' terminals, trucked across Chicago's congested expressways, then reloaded onto trains at CSX's Chicago yards.
The North Baltimore facility, for which CSX hopes to break ground late this year and plans a 2010 opening, is expected to employ about 100 people and stretch along the north side of State Rt. 18 between Liberty Hi and Range Line roads in southwestern Wood County. Last week, a CSX subsidiary purchased 77 acres in the middle of the site that had been the largest missing piece among an estimated 500 acres to be used for the terminal.
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current date: 07-Jan-2009 10:09 P.M.