Executive Director of the Tuscaloosa County Industrial Development Authority (TCIDA)

Dara Longgrear is executive director of the Tuscaloosa County Industrial Development Authority.  The TCIDA is the industrial recruitment and marketing arm for local governments in the county, serving as a one-stop shop for services related to manufacturing investments, including incentives, tax abatements, and industrial park land and buildings.  Longgrear played a key role in establishing Alabama’s automobile industry, helping recruit luxury auto maker Mercedes-Benz, which built its first North American assembly plant in Tuscaloosa County.  Longgrear, with a 32-year career in economic development, has led the authority since 1986.  During his tenure, the TCIDA surpassed $2.5 billion in domestic and foreign manufacturing investment.  In 1994, Site Selection magazine named the TCIDA among the nation’s top 10 Economic Development Organizations.  Prior to joining TCIDA, Longgrear worked with chambers of commerce in Birmingham and Anniston, Ala., and with the Home National Bank of Kansas in Arkansas City, Kansas.

Question:

Norfolk Southern plans to construct a $112 million rail intermodal facility in neighboring Jefferson County, Ala., as part of improvements to its Crescent Corridor.  How do you expect your region and the rest of Alabama to benefit from this facility?

Answer:

The first thing is that transportation, in general, serves as the arteries and veins of any manufacturing facility.  You must have a good transportation network to have a thriving manufacturing base.  This intermodal facility will greatly enhance our transportation network and will benefit manufacturing companies looking to locate or expand operations at our Cedar Cove Industrial Park, which is about 1-1/2 miles from the Mercedes assembly plant, and Airport Industrial Park, which is the county’s largest park.
 
The intermodal facility certainly should generate more containerized cargo, and that’s a good thing for us.  Most people are surprised to learn that over half of our manufacturing work force here is working for foreign-based corporations, most of which are shipping products and raw materials in containers in and out of the country.  We’ve got investment from companies headquartered in Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, and the movement of containerized cargo is a big part of our economy.
 
We have some of the most prestigious names in the international marketplace here – not only Mercedes, but companies such as JVC and Michelin.  We’re very open to the global work force.  Having this improved rail access will be a very positive thing for our economy in terms of development and the creation of good-paying jobs.  Having that intermodal service available and so close will become a focus for our marketing.

Question:

What do you view as the primary public benefits to be derived from the Crescent Corridor improvements?

Answer:

I think the most important benefit is that we’ll have more options in this critical area of transportation.  The corridor project will result in a more efficient movement of goods – both raw materials and finished products – and that’s got to facilitate economic growth.  A side benefit is the potential to remove trucks from our highway system.  If we can move more freight by rail and take trucks off the highway, in the long run that’s going to reduce congestion and the amount of money we’re spending on the highway system, particularly on upkeep. I think most people understand that it’s just much more efficient to move a larger volume of freight by rail.  The fuel efficiencies to be gained are just tremendous.