Cardinal News: Then & Now takes a look back at the stories we brought you over the last 12 months. Through the end of the year, we’re sharing updates on some of the people and issues that made news in 2024. This installment: Southwest Virginia’s inland port.
Although the prospect of an inland port that could bring hundreds of jobs to Southwest Virginia continues to be studied, it remains unclear how much it might cost to build.
Officials are eyeing the 400-acre Oak Park Center for Business and Industry in Washington County as a potential location. It’s close to Interstate 81 and a high-capacity Norfolk Southern rail line that already handles traffic to and from the Port of Virginia, which would operate the inland port.
The Virginia Port Authority has been sending quarterly updates to the General Assembly since last year. In its latest report, dated Dec. 1, the authority said it continues to refine its site design in light of “significant” costs associated with grading the terrain to accommodate rail operations.
An official opinion on the project’s cost was expected to be included in the authority’s Sept. 1 report. The authority now says it expects that opinion to come by Sept. 1, 2025, after the project has been 60% designed and an economic study on the port’s impact has been completed.
“By aligning a more detailed economic forecast with technical planning, [the Virginia Port Authority] and its partners will have a comprehensive foundation for understanding the inland port’s broader impact to the state and region and enable informed decision-making on this project,” the port authority wrote.
Washington County officials have agreed to support the port, with the county’s Industrial Development Authority voting early last year to donate any Oak Park land needed for the project.
Dan Smith, the IDA’s chair, said that while waiting for design work to be 60% complete would delay the final decision, “it will yield better design and cost estimates for the project and ultimately increase the chances of success.”
“An Inland Port in this location will be an economic stimulus that will benefit the region as a whole,” Smith said in an email.
Generally speaking, an inland port is a facility located a few hundred miles from a traditional port on the water. At the inland port, shipping containers are transferred from trucks to trains, which carry the containers to the maritime port — in this case, the Port of Virginia in Hampton Roads — where the containers are loaded onto ships. The trains bring other cargo or empty containers back to the inland port.
The idea is that it’s cheaper to transport cargo by rail than by trucks over distances like these. It also reduces congestion at the seaside port.
Virginia has one inland port already, near Front Royal in Warren County. It’s about 220 miles from the coast, but easy train access has allowed companies to build warehouses and production facilities on cheaper land there while also helping to ease congestion at the Hampton Roads port.
A study last year floated a hypothetical estimate of $55 million to build a “modest-sized” inland port in Southwest Virginia that could generate 675 jobs directly on site and 695 indirect jobs and would yield $1.75 billion in economic benefits over 20 years.
Those numbers hinge on several key assumptions, including that the new inland port would help attract three new manufacturing plants and two warehouse/distribution facilities that otherwise would not have set up shop in the area.
The General Assembly has thus far invested $12.5 million into planning the Southwest Virginia inland port “in recognition of the significant impact a project of this scale would have in Southwest Virginia — interconnecting the region and opening up new pathways to the Port of Virginia,” said state Sen. Todd Pillion, R-Washington County.
“Our delegation remains committed to working with our colleagues in the legislature and administration to review and determine the best options for next steps as this process continues to unfold,” Pillion said in a text message.
