Imagine a truck stop the size of a small town. It covers 6,000 acres, more than 9 square miles. It has connections to move cargo from anywhere in the world to anywhere else. It serves trucks, railroad and air transport, and even though it’s 800 miles from the ocean it links with the largest seaports in the Western hemisphere.
It can service the most modern and energy-efficient trucks, next door to a comfortable hotel for drivers. It has warehouses and factories, privately developed, which create the opportunity for value-added manufacturing. It even has an internal transportation system using automated vehicles.
This is the Albuquerque Region I-40 Tradeport, part of the I-40 Tradeport Corridor, now on the drawing board. A grant of $15 million for the next phase of planning was announced recently, as part of a $39 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The Tradeport Corridor may be the biggest infrastructure project in the nation in decades. It originated from the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This project helps to explain why advocates are calling that law “the largest long-term investment in our infrastructure and economy in our nation’s history.â€
The entire corridor will operate on a coordinated platform so that cargo moves efficiently. Bottlenecks, like those at Long Beach during the pandemic, will never happen.
The corridor starts at the seaports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and has three hubs: Kingman and Winslow, Arizona, and Albuquerque, the biggest. It involves investments by multiple public and private sector partners. It will eventually cross the country.
Though not officially part of the corridor, a tradeport is also being developed in Gallup, following the same concept and with state cooperation. It has been in planning for a decade. Tucumcari is also planning on a smaller scale.
The I-40 Tradeport’s publicity says:
“The integration of cargo management systems and automated cargo handling technology throughout the I-40 Corridor will deliver a spectrum of efficiency and reliability benefits to shippers that will be broadly focused on improving cargo velocity efficiency, reducing shipping costs, creating modal and carrier choice, and supporting the connection between logistics service, distribution, and production locations.â€
That means the project will develop a coordinated system for moving cargo, using clean energy, including electric and hydrogen powered trucks. The Albuquerque project will take advantage of the I-40/ I-25 intersection, Double Eagle Airport and the connection into Mexico.
The lead local partner is Bernalillo County, with Sandoval County and the village of Los Lunas participating. The main hub will be close to I-40, and the railway connection will be in or near Los Lunas. Sandoval County is participating to ensure coordination with its industrial development.
The Gallup project, which is well into the planning stages, has a specific strategic advantage: federal trucking rules require drivers, after 11 hours of driving, to take a 10-hour break. Gallup is 11 hours’ drive from Long Beach.
A similar project is being developed along I-10 in Doña Ana County, involving the Santa Teresa port of entry, major rail lines, also starting at the Los Angeles area seaports, connecting to the port of Houston and with highway connections into Mexico.
New Mexicans might want to pay attention to these projects and the possibilities they create for the future of commerce.
As we continue our perennial complaint about the need to diversify New Mexico’s economy, these projects are potentially a key to bringing our economy into the 21st century.
The obvious question for the rest of New Mexico is how to connect to these tradeports. So far these massive projects are mostly contracts and sketches, but it’s not too early to perk up the imaginations of entrepreneurs and economic development directors in every county.
Contact Merilee Dannemann through www.triplespacedagain.com.