b'SEPTEMBER 13 - 26, 2021INTERMODAL 11Revisitng the Heartland Corridor project 11 years laterBy George Lauriat, AJOTItsalmostexactly11goingtorequiresignificant yearssincetheHeartlandrailengineeringtoimprove Corridoropenedforbusi- clearances, rail and road inter-ness, providing an intermodalsectionsandtrackcapacity. linkfromthePortofNor- For example, clearances were folk, Virginia to, as the nameraised in 29 tunnels (any one of implies,theU.S.Midwestwhich was a major undertak-Heartland with Chicago asing) to make way for double-the nominal end point. stacked intermodal trains.In many respects the $391 millionHeartlandCorridorF inanCing TheC orridorwas an ambitious project thatThe financing of the Heart-nowwiththeBiden Admin- land Corridor stood to be more istrations Infrastructure Billcomplexthantheengineer-pending,mightprovetobeing. The project would impact a blueprintwith caveats seven states, dozens of cities, forotherfutureintermodalnumerous rail and road inter-projects. sectionsandbridges,notto mention tunnelsthe scope T heC onCepT : u.S. 460 oftheprojectwouldthus TheHeartlandCorridor(REVISITINGcontinued is loosely delineated by U.S.on page 15) Heartland Corridor provides an intermodal link from the Port of Norfolk, VA to the Midwest ending in Chicago.460ahighwayrunning east-to-westfromNorfolk, VirginiatoFrankfort,Ken-tucky and a spur of U.S. 60. U.S. 460 travels a total of over 400 miles through Vir-ginia, providing local access to a number of communities andconnectingthelarger areasofLynchburg,Peters-burg,andHamptonRoads. It also connects to U.S. 29 in Lynchburg,I-81,I-95,andWhere Speed Meets ReliabilityI-85. The Heartland Corridor is a key freight corridor. Itsworthtakingalook backathowtheproject evolved and what that might meanforotherintermodalEfficiency Reach Capacityprojects. The Heartland Cor-ridor was a $397 million pub- Industry leader in On-dock, double-stackNearly one-third of lic-private partnership whose conceptual goalwastopro- rail dwell time rail service into major our total cargo volume videmoreefficientroutingMidwest markets moves by rail.between the Port of Norfolk/Hampton Roads area and theprovided by both of the U.S. Midwest.Easts Class-1 railroads.Additionally,theproject wasbuilttoprovideadded freight capacity and help relieve truck congestion on the inter-states,improvedoublestack transittimes,reducegreen-house emissions and open up international trade.NorfolkSouthernfreight rail lines run along most of the corridor as part of its Heartland Corridor, one of the important freight corridors in the eastern U.S, providing access between thePortofVirginiaandthe Midwest and into Chicago via Columbus, Ohio. Conceptually,adouble stack rail corridor would cut off nearly 200 miles of track fromthethencurrentroute. Itsworthnoting,whilethe HamptonRoadshavelong hadrailconnections,the original purpose was largely fortheexportofcommodi-ties like coal, agri-bulks and hi-cube double stack rail cars couldnteffectivelytransit many of the rail routes thus forcinginefficientrouting system, prior to the building of the Heartland Corridor.However, to build an inter-modal double stack system was'