Transportation and logistics are of concern to any industry evaluating a state for a suitable project site. The Mississippi River, significant rail service and the state's extensive highway system have served the state well for generations. The fly in the ointment, however, is the unanswered question of whether Louisiana can continue to deliver competitive location advantage in the context of logistics. Air cargo volume and world trade in general are forecast to climb for the foreseeable future, and locations worldwide are positioning themselves as logistics hubs. But Louisiana's major airports are unlikely to play a meaningful role on that stage due to space constraints.
      One solution now on the drawing boards is the Louisiana Transportation Center (LTC), a proposed intermodal freight transportation and e-commerce distribution complex that would be funded by a public/private partnership. The 25,000- acre (10,125-hectare) complex would be built in phases over a 20-to-40-year period on a site on the banks of the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
      The LTC would feature four parallel 12,000-foot (3,657-m.) runways, a 2,900-acre (1,174-hectare) aircraft operations area, a 4,000-acre (1,619-hectare) aviation development area and an aviation support area. In terms of rail, the site has a Union Pacific mainline, an intermodal railyard with connections to two more railways, a container transfer yard and access to additional freight and passenger train service. The site would be accessible via three interstates and several state highways and provide access to more than 2 million people within a 60-mile (97-km.) radius. On the maritime side, the LTC would have a 145-acre (59-hectare) port facility, a container dock, a traveling gantry container crane, a container storage area for 3,300 containers and 2,400 ft. (732 m.) of deep-water river frontage on the Mississippi River. The entire site would be a Foreign Trade Zone.
      The Louisiana Airport Authority (LAA) completed the Master Plan and a Financial Feasibility Assessment and Economic Impact Study in February 2004 (www.la-airportauthority.com). Two scenarios were used in the economic impact study - a cargo-only facility and a cargo-and-passenger facility. The cargo-only facility over a 40-year period would create 66,000 jobs, $40 billion in new household earnings, $175 billion in sales for Louisiana businesses and $2.2 billion in new taxes. The cargo-and-passenger facility (a scenario facing strong resistance from the New Orleans and Baton Rouge airports) would have an even greater economic impact over the same period - nearly 71,000 new jobs, $45 billion in household earnings, $195 billion in business sales and $2.5 billion in new state tax revenues.
      LAA's executive director, Glenda B. Jeansonne, is gauging the interest of private investors, both in the U.S. and abroad, in helping make the facility a reality. Multiple studies have determined that the state's existing airports are unsuitable for the kind of commercial activity the LTC would deliver. "It would help bring the global economy back to Louisiana," she points out. "We were the gateway to Latin America, and we lost that title to Miami years ago."
      In late 2004, a consortium of potential investors from Canada was performing due diligence on the project, weighing the merits of funding some of the development costs. "They are already spending money on the project, gauging the interest of cargo companies and speaking to people in Latin America about the future and how to bring cargo into the U.S.," says Jeansonne. "Everyone they have spoken to in the cargo industry has expressed strong interest in moving into a new facility and out of Miami due to the congestion there." At press time, the project was still under consideration by state officials, including Governor Blanco.