Transportation

Highways, rail and air give Kansas City an advantage other communities envy.

Kansas City’s location may be about perfect, but its transportation network is both a boon and a challenge.

The network of highway and rail routes here, of course, has long represented a major advantage for attracting and retaining business and industry. Combined with a location at the pinpoint center of the nation, that network provides truck, rail and air carriers quick access to almost every locale in the country—the kind of access that resonates with growing numbers of companies involved in any type of distribution.

Depending on how the scoring is done, Kansas City is the nation’s largest or second-largest rail center. It’s also blessed with a network of highways and interstates that include two of the nation’s most strategic, Interstates 70 and 35.

Kansas City Southern Railway, for example, continues to expand routes to Mexican ports, including a major facility on the Pacific Ocean. A partner in one of Kansas City’s two large intermodal centers, KCS has added intermodal and shipping facilities in Houston while purchasing an intermodal facility in Toluca, Mexico. Another intermodal site, near Monterrey, has been upgraded.

Progress on public facilities is not so dramatic. The key east-west interstate corridor in the region—and one of the most important in the nation—is I-70. Yet Missouri’s section of this nationally important corridor somewhat out of date, with basic maintenance needs and congestion that indicates a need for major additions and upgrades. With a price tag estimated in the billions for a replacement and a political climate that isn’t especially favorable to creative solutions like toll roads, the nearly 250-mile bottleneck may continue for a while.

In addition to an $8.2 billion, 10-year Transportation Works for Kansas program, Kansas can rely on a toll to help maintain a key roadway. However, both states face overall tight cash in the current economy, and highway department funds have taken major hits. Bright spots include strategic interchanges such as the new one south of Tonganoxie on I-70 and one near a proposed intermodal center in Edgerton off I-35.

In other areas, the outlook is more positive. Kansas City’s Aviation Department, working with the Trammell Crow Co., is developing an advanced air cargo facility on some of the hundreds of open acres surrounding Kansas City International Airport. The KCI Intermodal BusinessCenter, an 800-acre multi-use development, began with a 180-acre first phase. Eventually, it will include four buildings covering 1.8 million square feet of commercial space and one of the nation’s largest Foreign Trade Zones.

The city has also invested more than $70 million in its Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport, which serves as a major corporate jet hub for the region. Ironically, one of Kansas City International’s advantages is its immediate access to I-29 and the region’s other highways.

“Being in the middle of the country really works for us,” noted Aviation Director Mark VanLoh. “But the fantastic highway system is really a key. Trucking is king and that’s why we’re doing this. We believe we can build a great distribution center here.”

Indeed, the air-cargo aspect of the development is likely to be only a part of an overall distribution industry focus. The advantage of a modern, ultra-fast air freight facility will be important, but some 7,000 acres on a major interstate will have fundamental advantages as well. Trammel Crow is currently developing pad sites while the city is completing road and other infrastructure. VanLoh said the work has already drawn development attention.

The largest, and certainly most talked about work, at the region’s largest airport involves possible long-range plans for a new terminal—a single terminal to replace the current three “pods.” The latter make for easy drop-off and pickup, but are a difficulty in terms of contemporary security
requirements and even simple elements such as utility costs.