| MidAmerica St. Louis Airport Scott Air Force Base Gateway International Raceway |
Dial Distribution Center MetroLink Light Rail Transportation System Tri-City Regional Port District |
MidAmerica St. Louis Airport
(click on map for a larger view)
MidAmerica St. Louis Airport is located on 4,440 acres adjacent to Scott Air Force Base in the southwest quadrant of the intersection of Interstate 64 and Illinois Route 4 in St. Clair County, Illinois. The new facility was built as a reliever for Lambert - St. Louis International Airport and is the newest air transportation facility in America . From the beginning, MidAmerica was designed as a "joint" facility, meaning the facility would serve both civilian air transportation needs as well as the needs of military aircraft at Scott Air Force Base.
The runways and terminals are designed to handle commercial airliners of any size as well as cargo planes and aircraft maintenance companies. The new 10,000-foot MidAmerica runway is parallel to and north of the existing Scott Airforce Base runway, separated by 7,000 feet of taxiway. This separation is particularly important in reducing delays because, unlike some airports, MidAmerica will be able to continue operations on both runways simultaneously during inclement weather.
Back to the Top
Scott Air Force Base
Scott Air Force Base is a major joint command headquarters base located in St. Clair County, Illinois. It is home to the United States Transportation Command and the Air Mobility Command. The United States Transportation Command is the largest transportation enterprise in the world. No military personnel or cargo moves anywhere in the world by land, air or sea without the command and control systems and expertise of the people assigned to this command at Scott . From deploying troops for national defense to transporting the President of the United States from one destination to another, it's all controlled and directed at Scott Air Force Base. Scott Air Force Base is also home to the 18th Air Force Headquarters, 375th Airlift Wing, the 932nd Reserve Airlift Wing and the 126th Air National Guard Refueling Wing.
Scott Air Force Base is a point of pride for the region and a place where many of our friends and neighbors work. With 13,000 employees, Scott Air Force Base is the largest employer in downstate Illinois and the fourth largest employer in the St. Louis metropolitan area. The most recent community impact assessment calculated that Scott Air Force Base has an annual economic impact of over $2 billion affecting over 100,000 individuals in the St. Louis region. www.supportsafb.org
Gateway International Raceway
Gateway International Raceway is located at the site of the former St. Louis International Raceway about five miles east of downtown St. Louis at the intersection of Interstates 55/70 and Illinois Route 203 in St. Clair County, Illinois. The $25 million raceway is the newest professional motorsports facility in the United States and home of the Motorola 300 and the Busch Grand National NASCAR series.
The facility consists of three individual tracks to accommodate various types of motorsport events. Gateway International has been completely reconfigured to include a 1.25-mile banked oval, a quarter-mile drag strip, and a 1.6-mile road course. The grandstands for the oval track events hold approximately 60,000 spectators, with plans to expand to 85,000 seats. The grandstands for drag strip events can accommodate 30,000 spectators.
Back to the Top
Just opened in 1998, the new 812,000-square-foot Dial Distribution Center is located in Gateway Commerce Center just minutes away from interstates I-270, I-255 and I-55 in Madison County, Illinois. It is conveniently located along the north-south corridor from Chicago to Memphis, and the east-west corridor from Indianapolis to points west. It is the largest Dial warehouse facility in the U.S. and the largest distribution center in the bi-state St. Louis metropolitan area. Other Dial distribution centers are located in Corona, California (237,000-square-feet), Atlanta, Georgia (254,000-square-feet), and Allentown, Pennsylvania (600,000-square-feet). Dial Distribution Center
The distribution facility center serves the central corridor of the United States reaching distribution centers from the Canadian border to the Mexican border and from Texas to Tennessee. The 24-hour, seven day-a-week, facility handles all of Dial's consumer products (Dial soaps, Purex laundry detergents, Renuzit air freshners and Armour Star canned meats) and is responsible for the distribution of 40 percent of the company's total volume. Over 26 million cases of products will be shipped annually from the Madison County Distribution Center.
Back to the Top
MetroLink Light Rail Transportation System
MetroLink is the light rail transportation system which connects the bi-state Illinois-Missouri St. Louis metropolitan area. The initial line begins at the main terminal of Lambert-St. Louis International Airport and ends on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River at Scott Air Force Base. The rail system first opened in 1993 and is now 38 miles long and stops at 28 stations along its route.
The success of MetroLink has been overwhelming. Before service began, ridership on the MetroLink System was pr ojected at 17,000 per day. In its first month of operation, ap pr oximately 30,000 passengers rode MetroLink each day. MetroLink carried nearly 9 million customers during its first year of operation. For the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2002 , more than 14 million passengers rode MetroLink. The capital cost to build the initial phase of MetroLink was $464 million. Of that amount, $348 was supplied by the Federal Transit Administration.
For more information about MetroLink's routes, fares and schedules, call (314) 231-2345 in Missouri or (618) 271-2345 in Illinois or visit www.metrostlouis.org
Tri-City Regional Port is located adjacent to Locks and Dam #27 on the Chain of Rocks Canal, the navigation channel of the Mississippi River just three miles from downtown St. Louis. Illinois Route 3 to the east of the Port's harbor complex is a four-lane divided highway which connects to Interstate 270 four miles to the north and Interstate 55/70 two miles to the west. The Port, which embraces an overall territory of approximately 77-square miles has established two Industrial Parks, Harbor Side Industrial Park and ACCESS Industrial Park, both of which have excellent intermodal transportation access. Tri-City Regional Port District
Direct rail access service to Tri-City Regional Port is provided by Norfolk Southern currently merging with a portion of Conrail. The U.S. Inland Waterways System connects Tri-City Port with industrial centers in 15 States located along the Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Illinois, and Tennessee Rivers with the Great Lakes of Canada and the Gulf of Mexico. The Port provides a Mid-continent intermodal transportation facility location for the shipment of dry and liquid bulk and general cargo in bargeload quantities with carrier service provided by more than 15 barge companies.
In addition to six major Interstate Highways, the Tri-City Port region is provided with outstanding air service capabilities by Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, St. Louis Regional Airport, St. Louis Downtown Parks Airport and the new MidAmerica St. Louis Airport.
Back to the Top
River's Edge
The Port District is also the owner, operator and administrator of “River's Edge,” which is an 814-acre property, formerly owned by the U.S. Army and operated as the Charles Melvin Price Support Center . River's Edge caters to small and mid-sized businesses of all types with nearly 70,000 square-feet of office space, a golf course, restaurant, daycare and reception center all within the business campus. The primary success of the redevelopment of the property has come from the ability to offer warehouse and office space in a location that is unparalleled in St. Louis region and to meet the demands of local companies looking for added space.
River's Edge also houses a small business incubator that offers entrepreneurs 6,000 square feet of office suites, which are available on a market-rate basis for newly formed companies and home-based businesses. River's Edge provides many services to these tenants including a receptionist, photocopiers, faxes, conference room facilities, audio-visual equipment and other amenities that can assist new companies in off-setting start-up costs in order to get their businesses off the ground.
Foreign Trade Zone No. 31
Tri-City Regional Port is grantee administrator of the federal license for Foreign Trade Zone #31. Foreign Trade Zone #31 is a specifically designated U.S. Government approved area, highly secure, where U.S. Customs import/export procedures are permitted to facilitate the effective handling of shipments and transactions in the least restrictive environment available. The trade zone will help a company improve its international business practices and maximize profits.
In 2003, Foreign Trade Zone #31 was expanded by 6,500 acres at three St. Louis metropolitan sites, including River's Edge, Gateway Commerce Center and MidAmerica St. Louis Airport . As grantee/license holder, the Tri-City Regional Port District is hosting the forum to provide an overview of the U.S. Foreign Trade Zone program and International Trade opportunities created by the expansion of the local FTZ. Foreign Trade procedures provide an array of advantages and benefits to businesses and will be a major additional incentive to facilitate the development of River's Edge, Gateway Commerce Center and MidAmerica St. Louis Airport .
Back to the Top
