PGH a key node in new Marine Highways Program (Pittsburgh: transfer, construction)

[BrianTH]

The Maritime Administration, a component of the federal DOT, has created a new Marine Highways program. Moving goods by water is by far the lowest-energy, lowest-infrastructure cost, mode. Although obviously not suitable for all goods or all destinations, the idea behind this program is to help shift suitable goods from congested land corridors (and the predictions are for congestion on these routes to keep getting worse).

MARAD has now released its main designated Marine Highway corridors:

DOT Maritime Administration - America's Marine Highway Program



As you can see, Pittsburgh is at one end of the M-70 corridor (note the corridors are named after parallel highways). Here is a description of the M-70 (available through a link at the page above):

M-70 Marine Highway Corridor

Sponsor: Ohio Department of Transportation
Supporters: Illinois DOT, Missouri Chamber of Commerce, Missouri DOT, and Cape Girardeau Area MAGNET.
Landside Corridor Served: Interstate-70

Corridor Description:
The M-70 Corridor includes the Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri Rivers, and connecting commercial navigation channels, ports, and harbors, from Pittsburgh to Kansas City. It spans Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, connecting to the M-55 Corridor at St. Louis, MO.

Attributes:
This corridor contains major freight truck bottlenecks at numerous points, including Kansas City, St. Louis, Louisville, Dayton, Cincinnati, Columbus, and Pittsburgh.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, long haul truck volumes are expected to reach 25,000 per day along major segments by 2035. Similarly, rail congestion is evident in and around Kansas City, St Louis, and several points along the corridor in Ohio.

This Marine Highway corridor has the potential to help alleviate a portion of the congestion from the existing landside routes, while at the same time reducing emissions, conserving energy, improving safety, and reducing highway maintenance costs. It can also contribute to increased economic and commercial activity in the region by removing barriers to efficient freight transportation.

Incidentally, Pittsburgh is also at the center of CSX's "National Gateway" project, which is designed to allow double-stacked freight transport from the key Mid-Atlantic ports to Northeast Ohio, and on to Chicago and points west, all in preparation for the upcomin widening of the Panama Canal (which will allow more U.S.-bound goods to come to East Coast ports, instead of West Coast ports). That project has now received all the necessary state and federal funding (including stimulus funding) for the first phase, which is going to involve a number of projects in the Pittsburgh area, including a new intermodal terminal.

I see these projects as connected, because if you look at the map there is no easy way to get from the Mid-Atlantic ports to the interior of the system, but the National Gateway project will provide a link.

[pman]

would that make pittsburgh a transshipment point where freight from the east coast moved by train would be loaded onto boats? of course, it could also mean New Orleans is the transhipment point for boats coming across the panama canal, and headed to pittsburgh (it's final destination) which would be smaller in the amount of port traffic.

[BrianTH]

That was certainly my idea: goods arriving by ship in Mid-Atlantic ports could be put on a train to Pittsburgh then transferred to barges for points west.

You could certainly reverse that from Gulf ports, but my sense (which could be wrong) is that a big container ship may have goods going all over the place, and won't necessarily stop at the best port for each individual container.

[pman]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

That was certainly my idea: goods arriving by ship in Mid-Atlantic ports could be put on a train to Pittsburgh then transferred to barges for points west.

You could certainly reverse that from Gulf ports, but my sense (which could be wrong) is that a big container ship may have goods going all over the place, and won't necessarily stop at the best port for each individual container.

to be sure, NY, Philly, and New Orleans should all see increases in port traffic after the canal (to say nothing of norfolk and baltimore). from teh rail side, NS is building a freight rail highway from new orleans to NY via Harrisburg with spurs to memphis and philly. they are also pushing, but are not as far along in the construction of, norfolk to chicago via new tunnels. the first woudl likely increase freight traffic to pittsburgh (pittsburgh and chicago bound traffic would diverge at harrisburg)...but this would be competing with the ships rather than augmenting, most likely, the second project would bypass pittsburgh, insteading going direct to chicago (probably good since capacity will become a problem from east coast ports). nonetheless, a rising tide may lift all boats, and the idea I assume is to create three way competition between modes. pitt stands to benefit, marginally, from increases in everything but trucking.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by pman

pitt stands to benefit, marginally, from increases in everything but trucking.

I agree. Add that to the many reasons people in Pittsburgh should be rooting for higher oil prices.