THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 17, 1994 TAG: 9411170496
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
Envious of civilian shippers who every night move thousands of packages and track them electronically all along the way, the Pentagon is preparing to open a state-of-the-art transportation center that could wind up in Hampton Roads.
The intermodal installation program, as it's now called, will be developed in conjunction with commercial shippers and used by them as well as the military, said Navy Cmdr. Steve Honda, a spokesman for the U.S. Transportation Command.
Hampton Roads is among about a dozen possible sites for the center being considered by the transportation command. A list of five finalists is to be announced before the end of the month, Honda said, and the final selection will be made in January.
The command, whose headquarters are at Scott Air Force Base in southern Illinois, is responsible for moving American forces and material to wherever they're needed around the world. Its ability to move fast is becoming increasingly vital as the military shuts foreign bases and reassigns troops to the continental United States.
Honda said it's unclear who will own the center or whether it will be built from scratch; the military might work to upgrade and run an existing facility with civilian ownership, he said.
Also unknown is the project's cost, which Honda said will depend in part on where the center is located, or how many people it would employ.
Preparing for Operation Desert Storm in 1991, the military often ``kind of lost track of where stuff was'' in transit to staging areas in Saudi Arabia, said Art Collins, executive director of the Hampton Roads Metropolitan Planning Organization. The new center is to develop ways to ensure that such confusion doesn't happen again and that goods are moved more quickly and efficiently.
Collins said Hampton Roads' interstate highways, seaport facilities, rail lines and airports make it a prime candidate for the center.
The Hampton Roads Regional Planning District Commission on Wednesday endorsed bringing the center to the area. Virginia's two senators, along with the area's four congressional representatives, also have sent the Transportation Command a letter touting the region.
Other sites reportedly in the running include Charleston, S.C., which was hit hard by a decision last year to close its naval facilities, and Fort Bliss, Texas. Each of those states is represented by Republican senators who figure to be powerhouses in the next Congress; South Carolinian Strom Thurmond will be chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Texan Phil Gramm is head of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. by CNB