Joseph Bonney, Senior Editor | Jul 31, 2012 12:07PM EDT
Georgia officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a $22.5 million overpass that will route trucks over six rail tracks at the Port of Savannah’s on-terminal Mason Intermodal Container Transfer Facility.
The Highway 307 overpass is scheduled to open to traffic next month. Curtis Foltz, executive director of the Georgia Ports Authority, said the project is one of the final steps in a cargo beltway linking the Port of Savannah’s Garden City terminal with Interstate highways 95 and 16.
An important component of the beltway will be the Jimmy DeLoach Parkway Connector, 3.1-mile, four-lane extension between the terminal and I-95. The Georgia Department of Transportation has approved $121 million in state bonds for the project, scheduled for completion in 2015.
In addition to the ongoing rail extensions at the Mason ICTF, other improvements will allow Norfolk Southern trains to enter the rail yard from the northwest, instead of looping through Garden City to enter from the east. This will reduce the use of 21 at-grade rail crossings and improve efficiency at the intermodal terminal.
Garden City is the only terminal on the East Coast with two on-site intermodal yards servicing Class I rail providers Norfolk Southern and CSX.
Other planned transportation improvements include a Brampton Road Connector to Interstate 516, and the widening of Grange Road to improve access to the north end of the terminal.
Contact Joseph Bonney at jbonney@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @josephbonney.