The St. Louis Regional Freightway Purpose
Founded in 2014 as an enterprise of Bi-State Development, the St. Louis Regional Freightway further enhances the St. Louis region’s standing as a premier international freight hub. Under Executive Vice President of Multi Modal Enterprises, Mary Lamie, the Freightway coordinates regional freight development efforts, tightly connecting the private and public sectors while advocating the region’s greatest freight and site selection strengths.
The St. Louis Regional Freightway is an all-purpose authority for freight operations and opportunities within the St. Louis region. Contact us directly for more information on how the Freightway can help your business or organization succeed in the bi-state area.
History
June 2013
The creation of a regional freight district is recommended through the St. Louis Regional Freight Study and approved by the region’s metropolitan planning organization East-West Gateway Council of Government’s Board of Directors from throughout the bistate area. The study is conceived as a way of strengthening the economy of the St. Louis region while optimizing the network of cargo transportation throughout the bistate area and beyond.
April 2014
The first meeting of the Freight Working Group – a team focused on implementing the mission, goals, and reach of the bistate region’s new freight district – is held with the cooperation of a team of civic leaders and industry authorities from both sides of the Mississippi River.
September 2014
The St. Louis region’s freight district is launched as the premier system of managing and improving freight operations throughout the St. Louis area. Because the Bi-State Development agency is uniquely positioned as both an economic development leader and as an implementation arm for regional projects, it was selected by the East-West Gateway Council of Government’s Board of Directors in September to lead this freight initiative.
July 2015
Mary Lamie is hired by Bi-State Development as the Executive Director of the St. Louis region’s new freight district. Ms. Lamie is a professional engineer whose record includes over 25 years worth of experience in civil engineering, public transportation management, and funding strategies. Her experience brings a proven voice and direction to the forefront of the region’s freight district.
August 2015
With the support of the Illinois Department of Transportation, the Leadership Council of Southwestern Illinois released the 2015 Southwestern Illinois Freight Transportation Study. This study evaluated the bistate region’s freight system and significantly influenced the Freightway’s identification of opportunities to fortify and expand the region’s freight economy.
December 2015
The “St. Louis Regional Freightway” name and brand image are officially born. In tribute to the region’s “Gateway to the West” identity, the Freightway is solidified as a recognizable, go-to source for all things freight within the bistate area, and most importantly – Your Gateway to the World.
April 2016
On April 27, 2016, the St. Louis Regional Freightway was publicly launched at the 2016 Freight Summit. A crowd of nearly 200 freight and logistics industry specialists, area business owners and executives, and elected officials attended the event in downtown St. Louis, Missouri.
The Freight Summit was organized to announce future projects and goals of the St. Louis Regional Freightway. The event featured an address by special guest, Federal Highway Administration Administrator Gregory Nadeau. The Freight Summit also celebrated the live launch of TheFreightway.com.
March 2017
The St. Louis Regional Freightway, America’s Central Port, St. Louis Port Authority and Kaskaskia Regional Port District and the Port of New Orleans entered into a Memorandum of Understanding in New Orleans, LA. This partnership is helping integrate the region’s supply chain with gulf coastal ports and has created an opportunity for steam ship lines to capitalize on the region’s competitive advantages and container on barge services.
October 2017
The St. Louis region’s port system is recognized as the country’s third largest inland port and the most efficient inland port. The region’s port system is responsible for 70 of the 855 miles (8 percent) of the Mississippi River. These 70 miles carry one-third of the river’s total freight, a direct reflection of the system’s efficiencies. The barge industry can handle 500,000 tons per mile, two-and-a-half times better than its competitors.
Those strengths are even more apparent along a 15-mile stretch of the Mississippi River, an area which has gained recognition as the Ag Coast of America. It is home to 15 barge-transfer facilities that, at total capacity, can handle 150 barges a day, the highest level of capacity anywhere along the Mississippi River.
December 2017
The St. Louis Regional Freightway partnered with the U.S. Department of Labor, TransPORTs, St. Louis Agency on Training & Employment, St. Louis Community College, Hogan Trucking, Vega Transportation and Schneider Trucking to launch an innovative new apprenticeship programaimed at training and increasing the truck driver workforce to meet existing and future demands.
March 2018
The St. Louis Regional Freightway and all four public ports from the St. Louis region signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Plaquemines Port Harbor & Terminal District from southern Louisiana to support development of a new transportation link with container on vessel services along the Mississippi River.
May 2018
The St. Louis Regional Freightway partnered with The Waterways Journal and Inland Marine Expo to host the inaugural FreightWeek STL, a four-day conference which brought together nearly 2,000 national industry leaders and experts to collaborate on the forward movement of America’s growing freight industry. The conference also highlighted the region’s enviable location as the epicenter of American logistics. To cap the event, the Freightway hosted its third annual Freight Summit Luncheon which was attended by more than 350 industry leaders. The luncheon included the release of the 2019 Freightway Multimodal Transportation Priorities list and a special presentation about container on vessel shipping.
May – July 2018
The St. Louis region receives over $400 million in multimodal transportation funding identified as priority projects by the Freightway’s Freight Development Committee. Starting in May 2018, the Illinois Department of Transportation and Missouri Department of Transportation jointly announced funding for the $220 million I-270 Chain of Rocks Bridge replacement over the Mississippi River. In June 2018, $18.7 million was received from Illinois’ new Competitive Freight Program. In July 2018, the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis agreed to provide $172 million in funding for the Merchants Rail Bridge replacement over the Mississippi River. This is a nationally-significant project as the Merchants Bridge provides services to six Class I railroads and Amtrak.
September 2018
Bi-State Development and the St. Louis Regional Freightway launch “I Choose STL,” a new platform promoting a positive image of the region through local jobs, workforce recruitment and training programs to the region and the Midwest. The pilot launch of IChooseSTL.com focused on promoting job and training opportunities for the St. Louis region’s trucking industry. The website is intended to serve as a resource for posting positive industry successes and quality of life articles that raise the region’s profile as one of the best places to work and live.
April 2019
The St. Louis region is again identified as the most efficient inland port district in the U.S. according to data from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The region’s barge industry handled 472,400 tons per river mile, more than 1.6-times more efficient than the next closest competitor.
May 2019
The St. Louis Regional Freightway and the Port of Savannah forged a partnership to create a new connection between the St. Louis region and the largest single-terminal container facility in the western hemisphere. The Port of Savannah identified the St. Louis region as a key import/export market to which containers can consistently be distributed by rail at a lower cost for shippers.
August 2019
Missouri Governor Michael Parson visited the Mississippi River town of Herculaneum to find out more about a proposed Container-on-Vessel (COV) initiative. Governor Parson was joined by a group of Missouri lawmakers; Jefferson County elected officials; and representatives from the port authorities of Jefferson County, Kansas City, Jefferson City and others, and the group learned about the plan to use the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers and their tributaries to move large volumes of goods and commodities along the inland waterways. The COV initiative would reduce freight transportation costs and increase efficiency and reliability for shippers.
September 2019
The St. Louis region’s Ag Coast of America is expanded to reflect its role leading the world in addressing global food security concerns. Strategically located in the center of the U.S. and world’s agriculture production, the bi-state St. Louis region is recognized as a world leader in agriculture technology (agtech) research and grain barge handling capacity. With the world population expected to grow by 25% and exceed 10 billion people over the next 30 years, a critical need exists for efficient production and movement of food. The St. Louis Regional Freightway, 39 North and World Trade Center St. Louis collectively spotlighted the region’s capabilities to do bothby cultivating the ecosystem with an expanded Ag Coast footprint that encompasses the region’s unmatched concentration of talent, capital, facilities, agtech companies and producers.
October 2019
The East-West Gateway Council of Governments (EWGCOG) Board of Directors unanimously endorsed the St. Louis Regional Freightway’s 2020 Multimodal Transportation Priority Projects List. These infrastructure projects received more than $1 billion in investments, and more than one-third of the projects had advanced to construction by the end of 2019. The projects included on this list were identified as priorities for the St. Louis region by business and industry leaders in the public and private sectors, as well as local and state officials, and the Missouri and Illinois Departments of Transportation (DOT). The Freightway’s Priority Project List is a great example of bi-state collaboration.
February 2020
The St. Louis region’s port system climbed to #2 for inland port total tonnage according to data from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The port system handled 37.4 million tons of commodities over the course of 2018 (the latest year for which data was available), a 13.2% increase over the prior year. The region’s port system also retained the #1 ranking for most efficient inland port district in the U.S. in terms of tons moved per river mile. The system also has the second highest concentration of port facilities per mile of all inland ports, contributing to growing awareness of a 15-mile stretch of the Mississippi River that flows through southwestern Illinois and eastern Missouri at St. Louis known as the Ag Coast of America.
May 2020
The St. Louis Regional Freightway’s 2020 Multimodal Transportation Priority Projects List is released and includes 21 projects representing a total investment of $2.2 billion, with half that amount covering infrastructure projects that are already under construction or funded and expected to get underway. Newly added projects included specific sections of the I-70 projects in St. Charles County (MO), I-55 improvements in Jefferson County (MO) and a Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis dewatering project in front of the Gateway Arch National Park (MO). Examples of recently funded projects included the $42 million I-255 /Davis Street Ferry Road Interchange in St. Clair County (IL), $80 million Illinois Route 3 Connector in St. Clair County (IL) and $600 million I-270 improvements (MO-IL)
May 2020
FreightWeekSTL 2020 goes virtual and identifies the St. Louis bi-state region’s as a global logistics hub that can support one system or the entire supply chain from a company’s headquarters, research and development, and warehousing to suppliers and logistics. Infrastructure, both vertical and horizontal and the can-do workforce attitude and talent, along with a heritage of making things, enables companies like World Wide Technology, Bunge, General Motors, Progressive Recovery and many others to compete in the global market. This supply chain ecosystem is unique and has adapted to and stands ready for COVID-19 shifts in terms of shortened supply chains and a local workforce that supports each system of the supply chain.
Goals
The St. Louis Regional Freightway is a dynamic, multi-faceted enterprise which leverages its many strengths to achieve the following goals.
Build on Regional Successes
The St. Louis region has a significant range of assets which contribute to the success of individual companies, organizations, and the region as a whole. The Freightway is implementing initiatives to further enhance the experience for current and future users of our freight network, such as:
- Improve first and last-mile connections
- Streamline permitting processes
Promote Industry Specialization
Specialized industry clusters are a critical element in the success of regional economies. The St. Louis Regional Freightway focuses on optimizing St. Louis’ freight network by promoting business development and supporting workforce development to grow our existing specialized and emerging industry clusters.
St. Louis is home to specialized industry clusters, such as:
- Aerospace & Defense
- Agriculture
- Automotive
- Chemical Manufacturing
- Cleaning Agent Manufacturing
- Logistics
- Metal Manufacturing & Recycling
- Pharmaceuticals
Strengthen Modal Flexibility
The St. Louis region has strategic access to all major modes of transportation. The Freightway develops intermodal connections in the region to offer freight users flexibility and efficiency when shipping cargo across various freight platforms.
- Second largest inland port
- Four interstates with national access
- Five airports with capacity
- Six Class I railroads
Enable E-Commerce Growth
E-commerce is becoming an increasingly important facet of the national economy, causing customer expectations of faster service and more options. An effective freight network is an essential element of helping e-commerce providers meet customers’ rising expectations. The Freightway will work with e-commerce stakeholders to make the St. Louis region a critical part of this emerging practice.
- Skilled IT workforce
- Plentiful broadband infrastructure
- Central location; closer to consumers
- Congestion-free network, more efficient shipping & delivery
Capitalize on Panama Canal Expansion
The international freight network is experiencing significant shifts in freight routing and freight flows as the Panama Canal expansion project is completed in late 2016. While not all implications of the expansion are known, the St. Louis region is taking proactive steps to capitalize on any and all changes to global freight operations.
The Freightway is building connections and joint initiatives with Gulf and East Coast ports that are poised to see an increase in Asian-origin freight bypassing West Coast ports.
- The newly expanded Panama Canal will allow for passage of cargo ships up to 3x larger than what is allowed today
- The expanded canal allows for additional shipping options for much of the U.S.
- The Panama Canal’s expansion coupled with the increasing need for lighting fast shipping creates a need for centrally-located warehouse and distribution, such as in the Midwest
Bi-State Development
The St. Louis Regional Freightway is an enterprise of Bi-State Development. BSD is a dynamic and multi-faceted resource for economic development in the St. Louis region. With expertise in planning and implementation, Bi-State Development provides real solutions to regional challenges with efficiency and accountability. With more than six decades of experience building jobs and initiating economic development, BSD continues to transform the St. Louis region for the better.
Our Partners
The Freightway would like to thank East-West Gateway Council of Governments and Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois for their ongoing support.