Federal grant could help jump-start Missouri River Terminal intermodal project
October 12, 2020: Kansas City Business Journal (full link below)
A plan to turn 420 acres of brownfield into a massive water, road and rail intermodal terminal will get a $9.88 million boost from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The agency announced the award of the Port Infrastructure Development Grant on Friday for the Missouri River Terminal project. The site is near the confluence of the Missouri and Blue rivers, straddling Jackson and Clay counties.
The Port Authority of Kansas City bought the former AK Steel site in 2018 with an eye toward future redevelopment. The land requires environmental remediation, which Port KC said it had achieved with similar projects at the Berkley Riverfront and the former Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base in south Kansas City. Port KC noted at the time of the purchase that the site will be a long-term project.
Earlier this year, Port KC was in the midst of an early study for a large public-private partnership that would be the Missouri River Terminal.
“Kansas City is already a major freight hub for the central United States, and this grant will help us continue to build on critical transportation infrastructure and spur economic development in the region and across Missouri,” Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said in the release.
The site will provide “unparalleled access to the three major modes of transportation — water, highway and rail — and increase the efficiency of moving freight through Kansas City to and from West, Gulf, and East Coast ports,” the release says.