Transport activity is big throughout the state, starting with the I-65 corridor near Montgomery, home of the newly opened Hyundai plant. Meanwhile, both land work and funding work continue on the $338-million outer loop planned to connect I-85 and I-65 southeast of the city.
      The four-lane upgrading of the Atlanta-to-Memphis highway, while not Interstate yet, is back on the boards, with construction slated to begin on certain Alabama portions in 2009. In April, a sign officially naming the corridor from Birmingham to Memphis "I-22" was unveiled.
      In Decatur, right on I-65, officials are looking for both federal and state support for a $60-million extension of I-565, which runs from Huntsville. As it happens, I-565 is right where Northrop Grumman, with developer Colonial Properties, broke ground June 27 on a new $80-million headquarters complex. The company currently employs 1,200 in 20 different Huntsville facilities.
      "We project even more growth in the years ahead, with Huntsville supporting or managing several major programs and new contract wins," said Daniel L. Montgomery, Northrop Grumman vice president and corporate lead executive for the Huntsville region.
      In Huntsville, named in May as the sixth-best place for business and careers by Forbes, the annexation of more than 288 acres (117 hectares) by the Huntsville-Madison County Airport Authority is helping pave the way for related industrial park expansion.
      Decatur also is seeing transport-related projects of the waterborne variety. In May 2005, Bunge North America, a St. Louis-based food and feed ingredient company, announced it would construct a barge unloading and grain storage facility at Decatur Transit's Port of Decatur on the Tennessee River.
      Expected to be operational in September 2005, the complex will load out to both truck and rail. Much of the grain will be headed to the facilities of poultry company Gold Kist, which signed a supply agreement with Bunge in conjunction with the new facility announcement. Bunge also operates a soybean processing facility in Decatur.
      "Our supply agreement with Bunge allows us to solidify our grain supply with dedicated freight," said John Bekkers, Gold Kist president and CEO. "This helps us maximize inventory and cash management and assures a consistent supply of grain at two of our most strategic feed mills." While he did not name those two, the company operates three mills in northern Alabama — in Russellville, Boaz and Guntersville — and one near Birmingham, in Trussville.
      White Plains, N.Y.-based Bunge North America is the North American arm of Netherland-based Bunge Ltd., the world's leading oilseed processing company, the largest producer and supplier of fertilizers to farmers in South America and the world's leading seller of bottled vegetable oils to consumers.