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  #1  
Old Posted Mar 18, 2013, 6:26 PM
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St. Louis region seeks ways to reconnect its economy with the river

http://www.stltoday.com/business/loc...79ee0b244.html

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St. Louis region seeks ways to reconnect its economy with the river



ST. LOUIS •

Drive up North Broadway, with its wall of old brick warehouses. Pass Produce Row and the heaps of scrap metal at Grossman Steel. Continue beneath an abandoned railroad trestle that’s being converted to an aerial bicycle path and bump over an iron track where the Burlington Northern Santa Fe runs daily. And you will get to where Otis Williams sees a land of opportunity.

Across the river in Granite City, in a half-empty former Army base that has an ethanol plant in the corner and a steel mill up the street, Dennis Wilmsmeyer sees the same kind of potential. And 30 miles south in Herculaneum, Dan Govero sees the chance to bring jobs to a town that needs them badly.

From the city’s industrial underbelly to the bluffs of Jefferson County, there are big plans afoot these days along the Mississippi River. Port officials such as Williams, Wilmsmeyer and Govero are pushing ahead with major investments. Several private companies are upgrading their docks, too. Studies are under way on how to better integrate the region’s freight and logistics networks. And all of it is aimed at making the dirty, slow river into a bigger asset in today’s just-in-time global economy, reconnecting the region to its very reason for being.

From a big expansion of the Panama Canal to worldwide demand for what’s grown in America’s breadbasket to a slow but steady reshoring of manufacturing from Asia back to the West, the contours of how goods move across the globe are shifting in ways that could make an old river town more central to the world’s commerce once more.

But it remains far from clear how much of that commerce will move through St. Louis — barge traffic here was flat for a decade before bumping up in 2011. And even if it comes, the last few years of high and then low water have shown how the Mississippi can be an unreliable partner in commerce, raising questions about how much the big river will ever mean to St. Louis’ economy again.

There was a time, of course, when the river meant everything.

...
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  #2  
Old Posted Mar 18, 2013, 10:21 PM
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Needs moar riverboat gambling.
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  #3  
Old Posted Mar 20, 2013, 2:24 AM
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Nothing wrong with industrial uses for a river front. 150 years from now in an era of extreme resource scarcity we might be demolishing riverfront condos and parks to make room for piers, docks, and other utilitarian uses for riverfront land.
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Old Posted Mar 21, 2013, 4:12 PM
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St. Louis being on two USDOT Marine Highways definitely needs to beef up its port capacity/terminals/infrastructure especially in light of growing exports from Missouri and Illinois. An effort is under way to build an association to foster a better relationship between the various metro St. Louis-area ports along the Mississippi.

There are new port projects under way in St. Louis City and along other local Mississippi River ports. One terminal expansion in St. Louis City will increase capacity by 50% - going from being able to handle 3.63 tonnes to 5.44 tonnes. It will be able to handle 11 barges simultaneously.

There are many port projects proposed. East St. Louis (Illinois), St. Louis County and Jefferson County are planning to improve or expand their ports along the Mississippi. America's Central Port continues to expand.

The new Mississippi River Bridge has opened up a lot of land at East St. Louis thereby opening up a lot of land redevelopment potential for new projects such as warehouse and distribution facilities.

Not only is the region working on building metro port capacity and trade, the region is also hard at work trying to make the St. Louis region a major inland international air cargo hub as well that will tie in to the port and interstate systems.

Below are photos of land along the East St. Louis riverfront.









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Old Posted Mar 26, 2013, 3:57 AM
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Below is a video the Port of St. Louis, which is the largest agricultural port in the world, planned port improvements, the new Mississippi River bridge to help with improving distribution and plans to use the river to increase commerce and trade. Click the video to see it on YouTube.

Video Link
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  #6  
Old Posted Mar 29, 2013, 4:30 AM
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Making Global Local -- St. Louis Aiming to be Gateway of Opportunity
In 2011, Missouri's trade with China grew 18%.
Adrienne Selko
Jan. 22, 2013

A successful strategic plan often calls for determining areas of strength and building upon it. That’s exactly what St. Louis is doing based on the state’s strong record of trade with China. The growth in 2011 was valued at $1.2 billion.

A successful strategic plan often calls for determining areas of strength and building upon it. That’s exactly what St. Louis is doing based on the state’s strong record of trade with China.

In 2011, Missouri's trade with China grew 18%. In 2010 growth was even stronger increasing 44%.

The growth in 2011 was valued at $1.2 billion, with copper scrap, fan parts, lead ores, aluminum scrap, and semiconductor devices among China’s most demanded Missouri commodities.

Exports translate directly into jobs. Since 2010, 21% percent of Missouri’s total employment, or 774,300 jobs can be tied to trade-supported jobs.

Part of the job growth was brought about due to programs and initiatives created by the World Trade Center of St. Louis. This group is focusing on ways to keep the momentum going.

“By offering to become a freight hub for China, St. Louis is positioning itself as a spot for international activity,” explained Tim Nowak, executive director for the World Trade Center of St. Louis. “The Lambert-St. Louis International Airport is set to become a Midwest hub for trade, increasing the $1 billion in goods that Missouri exports to China annually.”

Steps to ensure success include a national partnership with the U.S. Trade and Development Agency. St. Louis was selected to be involved in the Making Global Local initiative. This partnership will enable targeted reverse trade missions to St. Louis, connecting interested local companies with foreign buyers.

Trade Missions Useful Tool

“We are working with World Trade Center and its Asia Trade Desk to position St. Louis for further business opportunities in Asia through specialized training and high‐level trade missions.” said Denny Coleman, CEO of the St. Louis County Economic Council.

A recent trade mission occurred last November in Hangzhou, when more than a dozen businesses and two universities participated in the 5th U.S.-China Transportation Forum, held jointly by the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Chinese Ministry of Transport.

Also last year executives from Boeing, Monsanto, Emerson, Innoventor and Nestle Purina PetCare completed a trade mission to Indonesia.

Specialized training is taking the form of a new online Chancellor’s Certificate in International Trade that is being offered through the University of Missouri.

The certificate is a six-month online training program, providing participants with the opportunity to learn practical aspects of international business from experienced industry professionals.

(Read More)
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Old Posted Mar 29, 2013, 5:20 AM
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nm. aerials look out of date
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  #8  
Old Posted Mar 29, 2013, 5:46 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dc_denizen View Post
Nothing wrong with industrial uses for a river front. 150 years from now in an era of extreme resource scarcity we might be demolishing riverfront condos and parks to make room for piers, docks, and other utilitarian uses for riverfront land.


Godzilla would destroy the city before he lets THAT happen....




(deviantart.net)

Last edited by PEORIA; Mar 29, 2013 at 6:05 AM.
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  #9  
Old Posted Mar 29, 2013, 6:39 AM
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Originally Posted by J. Will View Post
nm. aerials look out of date
Out of date? Not too sure what you mean. Th aerial photos are very recent.
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Last edited by Arch City; Mar 29, 2013 at 7:44 AM.
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  #10  
Old Posted Mar 29, 2013, 7:43 AM
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Here are aerials of the Port of Metropolitan St. Louis - Courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard office in St. Louis. Most St. Louisans don't have a clue about how integral the St. Louis Port is to the local and national economy.

The river is already busy so it'll be interesting to see how much busier it will become with increased traffic.

South Docks

photo credit: Darryl Moran

In the background, three of St. Louis City's four skylines - Downtown, Midtown and the Central West End.


Busy river ports in both states.








Chain of Rocks Canal. Downtown St. Louis in the background.
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Old Posted Mar 29, 2013, 1:22 PM
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it's crazy how busy the mississippi is, and then you drive over one of the missouri river bridges and it's empty as far as the eye can see. I guess they just don't load much in the Kansas City and Omaha ports, they are big rail hubs. Part of me wishes that they would let the channel partially revert and increase the recreational value and ecological health of the river. It was once a very, shallow wide river.




That's a vaguely New Orleans-y perspective of St. Louis. I always get a sense of that when in certain areas of the American Bottoms.
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  #12  
Old Posted Mar 29, 2013, 4:02 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Arch City View Post
Out of date? Not too sure what you mean. Th aerial photos are very recent.
Not the aerials still in this thread. I had linked to some other aerials, but Streetview made it look like they were out of date.
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Old Posted Mar 29, 2013, 4:23 PM
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This shows how precise the movement of vessels is on the Mississipi. Not much margin for error I would guess. The barges are pulled by what seem to be special tug-like boats and I wonder is there one direction for traffic on odd days and another on even ones? Help?
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Old Posted Mar 29, 2013, 10:05 PM
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great pics.

The regions surrounding the Mississippi river system are their own distinct part of the national geographic consciousness if you will, equal to the coasts at times in the past. With the decreasing importance of the river due to rail and cars this distinction has temporarily been obscured, but maybe in time it will arise again. The rust belt is really two regions: the Lakes and the River.
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Old Posted Mar 29, 2013, 10:40 PM
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It's nice to see St. Louis getting to build necessary new infrastructure. Between the new I-70 alignment and the reconstruction of I-64, it gives me hope that someday soon, Pittsburgh will be allowed to do necessary and decades-overdue improvements to I-376.
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  #16  
Old Posted Mar 29, 2013, 11:58 PM
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Yes, and the I-70 alignment allows St Louis to rectify the awful mistake of cutting an expressway between downtown and its riverfront. Of course, now that the city can actually look at removing that expressway, they're proposing to spend a ton of money decking it over instead.
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Old Posted Mar 30, 2013, 12:08 PM
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Originally Posted by ardecila View Post
Yes, and the I-70 alignment allows St Louis to rectify the awful mistake of cutting an expressway between downtown and its riverfront. Of course, now that the city can actually look at removing that expressway, they're proposing to spend a ton of money decking it over instead.
Honestly, I like the idea of cut-and-cover highways. I recommend it for portions of I-76 in Philadelphia in concurrence with a decades-overdue upgrading. Cut-and-cover puts the highways below street level and allows development on top of it.
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