Executive Director of the West Alabama Regional Commission

Robert Lake is executive director of the West Alabama Regional Commission in Northport, working with local governments and economic and community development officials in a seven-county region that includes 37 municipalities.  A primary function of the commission is to promote regional cooperation on projects that stimulate economic development and improve the quality of life in West Alabama.  Lake, a former mayor of Moundville, Ala., has directed the commission since 1996.  He previously served 25 years in community banking as a lending officer.  He currently serves on the Tuscaloosa Convention and Visitor Bureau’s board of directors and is an ex-officio member of the Tuscaloosa County Industrial Development Authority board.

Question:

What kind of economic benefits do you think Alabama and, specifically, West Alabama will receive from the intermodal facility Norfolk Southern plans to build outside Birmingham as part of its Crescent Corridor project?

Answer:

I think I could talk on that all day. To those who aren’t up to date on the need for increased rail capacity in Alabama, I’ll say that our industries that rely on rail transportation – such as the Mercedes-Benz manufacturing facility in Tuscaloosa County – need to know that they can get their raw material in and their products out in a timely manner.  The facility will act sort of like an inland port for moving freight by rail, and that’s going to be a real advantage in attracting new economic development. Business people really know the value of it.

Any industry thinking of expansion has to consider how they’re going to move their product.  If it’s a product like Mercedes, when the economy turns around they’re planning to add a couple thousand employees for the new facility they’ve built and the new automobile line, and they’ve got to be able to move those autos.  You certainly can’t move that many vehicles by truck.  You’ve also got industries like ThyssenKrupp, which is building a steel plant north of Mobile, and they’re going to require rail capacity to move steel.  Any industry looking to locate in Alabama or to expand operations is going to feel good about this intermodal facility.

Question:

As part of a public-private partnership, public funds are being used to help Norfolk Southern accelerate improvements to the Crescent Corridor – including a recent $105 million federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant for the Birmingham regional intermodal facility and a similar terminal outside Memphis, Tenn.  Does it make sense in your view for tax dollars to be spent on the Crescent Corridor?

Answer:

Yes, it does. This project will provide opportunities for industries to expand, it will create new jobs in the west/central area of Alabama and in other parts of the country that desperately need jobs, and it will slow down the wear and tear of the interstates by trucks.  The public will get that TIGER grant investment back many times over.  These rail improvements will help coordinate the movement of goods and products, and it should cost industry less to transport their goods by rail, especially bulk items.  There’s also environmental savings to the average citizen because freight rail uses a lot less fuel to move goods than trucks, and that translates into fewer emissions.  Taxpayers should really benefit from that and any other improvement in freight rail.

I think people are beginning to ‘get’ the idea of freight movement and how it affects industry choices of where they locate.  I just so strongly believe in the future of rail.  I really wish we had a national leader who would step up like Roosevelt stepped up for the Blue Ridge Parkway, and Eisenhower stepped up and built the interstate system, and Kennedy stepped up for space exploration and the moon shot.  We need someone at the national level who can give people a real vision for rail.

Question:

Any thoughts on how the intermodal facility might help Alabama address highway traffic congestion?

Answer:

This facility may not necessarily reduce the number of trucks, but it will reduce the growth in the number of trucks on the highway – and that’s real important.  I think our interstate highways are pretty much at capacity, and we’re constantly investing additional taxpayer dollars into repairing them.  Anything that rail can do to slow the growth of truck traffic on these highways will save taxpayers’ money.