The Texarkana Chamber of Commerce, after a recent meeting with the Texarkana Metropolitan Planning Organization and an economic development focus group, plans to begin a project for intermodal facilities. The closest current intermodal facility is Shreveport, Louisiana.
The area hopes to capitalize on its location in which highways, rails and pipelines meet, the potential navigation of Red River, and its strategic location along the trade corridors connecting the U.S., Mexico and Canada, said Chamber Vice President Linda Crawford. "Rail and highway are probably going to be our two strongest areas."
She said the chamber hopes to have Union Pacific, the TMPO, an Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department official, and local industry plan such a facility. She said the Chamber has been searching for appropriate sites.
A report on an intermodal facility published in 2001 stated: "The Ark-La-Tex region could possibly become more attractive to industries and commercial business with the development of a regional transportation center featuring intermodal transportation facilities, and services such as cargo consolidation and export services ... A centralized location for manufacturing where truck and railroad transportation is coordinated might also enhance the economic development potential of the Ark-La-Tex region.”
