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OHIO RIVER CORRIDOR REGIONAL REVIEW
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naking along a 981-mile (1,578-km.) corridor from Pittsburgh to Cairo, Ill., the Ohio River provides a vital economic link to the six states it touches: Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia,Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois.
Add its tributaries to the equation and the Ohio River navigational system becomes a 2,500-mile(4,022-km.) conduit, annually moving 300 million tons of cargo worth an estimated US $30-35 billion. Barges carrying commodities such as coal, aggregate, petrochemicals, iron, steel and grain move along the river between suppliers and manufacturers and customers.
Scott Hercik, a transportation advisor for the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), knows the river well. In fact, not too long ago he spent three days on a barge moving cargo up and down the waterway. The journey gave him a boat's eye view of how the river system is truly intermodal, intersecting with adjacent highways and railways.
"The Ohio River is a magnet that retains business as well as draws new business," Hercik says. "It's a powerful force for the economy, and it's not only the river, but everything around it."
Hercik says research by the ARC and Marshall University in Huntington, W. Va., finds that an intermodal platform tends to drop shipping costs by 20 to 25 percent. Much of the river's site potential remains to be tapped. He says about 1,000 industrial and business sites are in place along the river -- with room for about 1,000 more.
"There's site availability, and we do have a work force," Hercik says. "And there's an immediate dependable energy source with 50 power plants. It's also a pretty area with a good quality of life."
Beginning at its origin in Pittsburgh, industrial firms long ago realized the importance of the Ohio in transporting heavy loads. One example is American Bridge, the Coraopolis, Pa.-based fabricator of structural steel for bridges and industrial uses. The company opened manufacturing operations on the river in the fall of 1999 and completed an expansion last year. It built headquarters there in 2000 to consolidate its multiple Pittsburgh locations.
"The water is very key, because we ship equipment on barges, so it makes it convenient," says Pamela A. Bena, American Bridge's vice president of finance.
The Ohio and its tributaries provide a major transportation system for West Virginia. The Port of Huntington Tri-State became the largest inland river port in the U.S. with its designation in 2000 with 199 navigable river miles (320 km.) on the Ohio, Kanawha and Big Sandy River systems. All together, the state has 422 navigable miles (679 km.) of Ohio River waterway.
Patrick Donovan, riverfront development coordinator for the West Virginia Public Port Authority, says the system offers a lot of industrial opportunity. One is the potential development of a public port in the north Charleston area at Dow Chemical's tank farm, currently underutilized by 50 percent. The excess assets may be marketed to industries along the river, he says.
In the Buckeye State, the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative (SODI), a four-county agency, is busy developing industrial parks and buildings to offset the 2001 closing of the U.S. Dept. of Energy's Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, which produced enriched uranium for military uses. SODI's efforts include redeveloping portions of the DOE site and off-site industrial parks, including the 400-acre (162-hectare) Zahn's Corner Industrial Park in Pike County.
SODI leased a small portion of the DOE site and is subleasing it to Mead Paper for a grading and marketing operation. In 2006, more of the facility will become available for reuse.
Greg Simonton, SODI executive director, says the Portsmouth DOE site, actually in Piketon, has the infrastructure of a small city. Currently, about 1,200 DOE employees are working on the cleanup of the facility.
Add its tributaries to the equation and the Ohio River navigational system becomes a 2,500-mile(4,022-km.) conduit, annually moving 300 million tons of cargo worth an estimated US $30-35 billion. Barges carrying commodities such as coal, aggregate, petrochemicals, iron, steel and grain move along the river between suppliers and manufacturers and customers.
Scott Hercik, a transportation advisor for the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), knows the river well. In fact, not too long ago he spent three days on a barge moving cargo up and down the waterway. The journey gave him a boat's eye view of how the river system is truly intermodal, intersecting with adjacent highways and railways.
"The Ohio River is a magnet that retains business as well as draws new business," Hercik says. "It's a powerful force for the economy, and it's not only the river, but everything around it."
Hercik says research by the ARC and Marshall University in Huntington, W. Va., finds that an intermodal platform tends to drop shipping costs by 20 to 25 percent. Much of the river's site potential remains to be tapped. He says about 1,000 industrial and business sites are in place along the river -- with room for about 1,000 more.
"There's site availability, and we do have a work force," Hercik says. "And there's an immediate dependable energy source with 50 power plants. It's also a pretty area with a good quality of life."
Beginning at its origin in Pittsburgh, industrial firms long ago realized the importance of the Ohio in transporting heavy loads. One example is American Bridge, the Coraopolis, Pa.-based fabricator of structural steel for bridges and industrial uses. The company opened manufacturing operations on the river in the fall of 1999 and completed an expansion last year. It built headquarters there in 2000 to consolidate its multiple Pittsburgh locations.
"The water is very key, because we ship equipment on barges, so it makes it convenient," says Pamela A. Bena, American Bridge's vice president of finance.
The Ohio and its tributaries provide a major transportation system for West Virginia. The Port of Huntington Tri-State became the largest inland river port in the U.S. with its designation in 2000 with 199 navigable river miles (320 km.) on the Ohio, Kanawha and Big Sandy River systems. All together, the state has 422 navigable miles (679 km.) of Ohio River waterway.
Patrick Donovan, riverfront development coordinator for the West Virginia Public Port Authority, says the system offers a lot of industrial opportunity. One is the potential development of a public port in the north Charleston area at Dow Chemical's tank farm, currently underutilized by 50 percent. The excess assets may be marketed to industries along the river, he says.
In the Buckeye State, the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative (SODI), a four-county agency, is busy developing industrial parks and buildings to offset the 2001 closing of the U.S. Dept. of Energy's Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, which produced enriched uranium for military uses. SODI's efforts include redeveloping portions of the DOE site and off-site industrial parks, including the 400-acre (162-hectare) Zahn's Corner Industrial Park in Pike County.
SODI leased a small portion of the DOE site and is subleasing it to Mead Paper for a grading and marketing operation. In 2006, more of the facility will become available for reuse.
Greg Simonton, SODI executive director, says the Portsmouth DOE site, actually in Piketon, has the infrastructure of a small city. Currently, about 1,200 DOE employees are working on the cleanup of the facility.