Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 15, 1995 TAG: 9501280034
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: G-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Memorize these initials: GTP.
They stand for Global TransPark and if North Carolina has its way, you'll hear them a lot in the years to come.
North Carolina business and political leaders hope the GTP will be the "industrial park of the 21st century," a kind of blue-collar Research Triangle for the distribution industry that will revolutionize the state's role in the global marketplace.
The Global TransPark would be a combination airport and industrial park, with factories - or at least their distribution centers - built on the runways, and cargo jets would come and go 24 hours a day to serve overseas markets.
The term "industrial park" may not even conjure up the right image for what North Carolina has in mind: It's already designated a site near Kinston that encompasses 15,300 acres. Some studies predict if the project creates an international distribution industry in North Carolina the way backers hope it will, the park could generate 50,000 jobs across the state.
The Global TransPark is the brainchild of John Kasarda, director of a business institute at the University of North Carolina and a big-picture thinker on how transportation is changing the way the economy works.
The short version of Kasarda's lecture goes like this:
Overseas markets will be where the action is for American companies in the future. Moreover, companies around the world are rapidly moving toward the concept of "just in time" delivery, meaning instead of storing large quantities of products or materials, they cut inventory costs by ordering supplies to arrive "just in time."
Combine those trends, Kasarda says, and it means the cities of the future will be those with international cargo airports; American manufacturers will flock there, he believes, to have "just in time" access to overseas markets.
It's an idea that North Carolina's political leadership has embraced.
Kasarda isn't the only one pushing this school of thought; many economic thinkers today talk about how they see the rise of international "gateway" cities, with smaller cities scrambling to establish and advertise their transportation links to these gateways. Michael Gallis at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte says Roanoke should be pushing its proximity to the two big "gateways" in the Mid-Atlantic, Washington and Charlotte.
The difference is Kasarda has sketched out a way for North Carolina to take advantage of these trends - by building a massive and futuristic international air cargo airport.
He also sold his idea to North Carolina's governor in 1990. From there, the project moved at what one North Carolina newspaper has called "the bureaucratic equivalent of light speed."
In 1991, then-Gov. Jim Martin endorsed the idea in his State of the State address. Before the year was out, the North Carolina legislature had formed a state authority to run the proposed Global TransPark and set a site-selection process in motion.
In May 1992, the prize was awarded to Kinston, about a 90-minute drive east of Raleigh; in November 1992, the state hired a consultant to develop a master plan; in January 1994, the master plan was adopted, and an environmental impact study begun.
the study will be complete next year, and land acquisition and construction can begin. The cost to develop the first phase is put at $159 million. The state hopes to split that with the federal government, which historically foots much of the bill for runway expansion - as this technically would be.
So far, there's no commitment from the feds, although the outgoing chairman of the House Public Works and Transportation Committee has praised the Global TransPark as "the most exciting, comprehensive project that I've ever seen."
So far, North Carolina has already spent $14 million on the project and set aside another $25 million for land acquisition, which could start as early as this year. North Carolina business leaders also have formed a nonprofit foundation to support the project - and raised $18 million of their projected $30 million.
A domestic air cargo carrier that contracts with Federal Express for short hauls has agreed to locate a maintenance facility at the TransPark. Some of the foundation's money will go toward building the hangar, which will then be leased back to Mountain Air, Inc.
If the state's commitment to such a long-range project has been impressive, the backing of local governments in the region has been almost unheard of. Thirteen counties in tobacco-growing eastern North Carolina that expect to see TransPark-related job gains have agreed to impose a $5-per-motor vehicle tax that's expected to raise $25 million to help bring the project off.
Keep in mind, says Global TransPark spokesman Jim Sughrue, "this was in a part of the state that did not have a history of regional cooperation. Counties lines were very strong things and drawn in indelible ink."
How has North Carolina been able to mobilize so much of its business and political leadership between such a mammoth project?
Sughrue gives two reasons.
"What made it happen? The answer is leadership, having the governor involved." Not only did Jim Martin put his personal prestige behind the project, so did the man who defeated him in 1992 - Jim Hunt. Both governors have personally chaired the park's governing body.
But the larger answer, Sughrue says, lies not in the state capital of Raleigh, but just outside of it - the Research Triangle. "One of the things that made this possible in North Carolina is we have seen the success of the Research Triangle; the political and business leadership understands it's possible to take a good idea and turn it into a world-class facility."
In Western Virginia, less than an hour's flying time from Kinston, business leaders also have taken notice. At least two committees of the New Century Council, the group that's trying to devise a long-range economic strategy for the Roanoke and New River valleys, are kicking around the idea of recommending that a small-scale version of the TransPark be set up at the New River Valley Airport near Dublin.
Why Dublin?
For one thing, its runway is about as long as Roanoke's. But the New River airport is farther from the mountains than Roanoke is; that means it's not closed as often in bad weather.
But the big selling point, New Century Council director Beverly Fitzpatrick Jr. says, is that the New River airport can be "intermodal" - that is, take advantage of several different transportation methods. Both Roanoke and New River are close to I-81. But New River is closer to Norfolk Southern tracks, giving New River a third transportation option.
Also, Fitzpatrick says, there's more developable land around Dublin than around the hemmed-in Roanoke airport, and the key to a TransPark is being able to develop factories on the runways.
Maybe Dublin can't be an international cargo hub, says Frank Ellett, president of Virginia Truck Center in Hollins and a New Century Council member. But it might be a domestic hub that feeds into North Carolina. Del. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, foresees the possibility of Dublin becoming a staging ground to relieve congestion at Kinston - cargo from the Midwest would converge on Dublin by truck and rail, then be flown to North Carolina.
TransPark planners agree. "I think we can and will be an asset to people up in your part of the country," Sughrue says. "We see an opportunity to be served by facilities in other states. I think to some extent you'd see a spoke and hub relationship with other areas."
Does Western Virginia want to become that spoke?
Then the region needs to speak up now, Fitzpatrick says.
by CNB