The NC Triad (Greensboro,Winston-Salem,High Point) could become an aerotropolis

[urbanscraper]

Charlotte is known for Banking and Finance. Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill is known for Education, government and research industries. The Triad could be known as an aerotropolis. The Triad may finally have an identity. Having an identity is important because it allows cities to set goals and execute them. This will involve turning to the Triad's roots in part as a major logistical and transportation center. But just what is an aerotropolis? The article explains.

(News & Record) Triad could become an aerotropolis

Aerotropolis. It sounds like a winged dinosaur that's been extinct for eons.

But, far from a relic of the past, it could be the key to the Triad's future, a concept that might even bring the Atlantic Ocean to our economic doorstep.

The term "Aerotropolis" was coined by economic-development expert John Kasarda to describe a regional economy based in the aviation industry but with equally good links to other forms of transportation.

"It's the best hope for being competitive in the 21st century," said Kasarda, director of the Kenan Institute for Private Enterprise at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Kasarda envisions a reinvigorated economy built around Piedmont Triad International Airport and the area's larger transportation network. The Triad's large web of rail and highway routes has been a key attribute for more than a century.

The future will include at least two new interstates, improved air and rail access, and even a possible link between the land-locked Triad and the major ports of North Carolina and South Carolina.

For Triad residents, living in an aerotropolis could mean more job opportunities in more professions, higher incomes and a greater level of direct access - by road, rail and air - to places ranging from the coast to the Midwest, Northeast and Canada.

Indeed, there are exciting transportation developments on the horizon, starting with the scheduled opening next year of the FedEx Mid-Atlantic Hub at PTI.

"I don't think anyone really has grasped yet what FedEx is going to do for our region," said Doug Galyon, a Greensboro resident and chairman of the state Board of Transportation.

The project includes a $300 million, state-of-the-art sorting hub to handle packages FedEx is shipping to and from locations along the Eastern seaboard.

The project also includes $250 million in additional PTI improvements, the centerpiece being a third runway scheduled to open in time for the hub's June 2009 debut.

Thousands of packages will pass through PTI each day, arriving and departing by air or truck, giving the region a new level of overnight connectivity with the nation and the global economy.

Galyon and other community leaders see it as a magnet to attract companies on the cutting edge of modern manufacturing.

"Manufacturing has always been about bringing raw materials in and sending finished products out," said Dan Lynch of the Greensboro Economic Development Alliance. "But now it's more sophisticated."

Companies such as Dell, HondaJet and Polo.com are among those already brought to the Triad, at least in part, by FedEx's plans. When the hub actually gets up and running, more are sure to follow, Galyon and Lynch suggest.

But what about the land-locked Triad's possible future on the high seas?

Kasarda thinks that also could be a hub benefit, stemming from new relationships with port communities such as Morehead City and Wilmington.

Shipping containers could be removed from seagoing vessels at either port and forwarded to the Triad within hours for unpacking, processing and redistribution. Perishables such as produce, other food and flowers could be brought into the PTI area by container for speedy movement by air, rail or highway, Kasarda said.

The Triad's roots as a transportation hub go back a century to entrepreneurs such as Lunsford Richardson and brothers Moses and Ceasar Cone, who exploited the area's excellent rail connections in, respectively, the pharmaceutical and textile industries.

And rail might play a renewed role in the region's success in the 21st century, Galyon said.

Greensboro is fortunate, he said, to be included as a stop on the Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor to New Orleans: The first section, from Washington to Charlotte, is scheduled to open in 2013, although the rest is still being planned.

"It will be double-tracked all the way," Galyon said, "so passenger and freight trains are compatible with each other."

Good highways supplanted the railroad as the Triad's chief transportation feature in the mid-20th century, eventually resulting in Interstates 85 and 40 merging in Greensboro. Those two major highways turned the region into a significant trucking center linking Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh and points northeast and west.

But the area's highway system, it turns out, was only partly complete.

Two additional interstates - I-73 and I-74 - are under construction in Guilford County and other parts of the state.

Construction schedules are less certain elsewhere, so there's no target date for completing the new roads in their entirety. But in time, they particularly will strengthen the Triad's access to the Midwest.

I-73 is planned to go all the way through Michigan to Sault Ste. Marie on the Canadian border. I-74 will offer a more direct route to Cincinnati.

Greensboro's recently completed western Urban Loop will carry interstates 73 and 40 partly around town, merging with I-85 southwest of the city just before I-73 peels off to the south.

And what is arguably the region's fifth interstate is planned to intersect the 41-mile loop's yet-to-be built, northeastern section: The upgrade of U.S. 29 to interstate standards from Greensboro to Danville, Va., resulting in the new designation of Interstate 785.

Meanwhile, Triad educators are responding to the continuing evolution with degree programs. N.C. A&T, UNCG and Guilford Technical Community College all have developed programs to educate the professionals of tomorrow in transportation, logistics and applied technology.

Earlier this year, Guilford County voters approved more that $50 million in bonds to build a new GTCC campus that will house all the community college's transportation offerings, including its aviation school.

"I think this is going to account for a tremendous number of jobs in the years ahead," GTCC President Don Cameron said of the transportation industry.

If everything works out as planned, the Triad's transportation graduates can look ahead to prosperous careers in America's newest aerotropolis.

But Galyon suggests that as much as the Triad's future might merit a new title, an old nickname from Greensboro's past as a railroad center might work, too.

"Twenty years from now," he said, "this will once again truly be The Gate City."

Consider this. The FedEx mid-atantic air hub in Greensboro (now under construction) has already played a role in attracting a Dell computer factory to Winston-Salem, a Lenovo computer manufacturing/distribution center in Greensboro, and a Honda jet factory and world headquarters to Greensboro. The hub isnt even open yet so just imagine what the economic landscape in the region will look like in about 10 years after the FedEx hub opens. Its clear aviation, transportation and logistics will be the future of the Triad. The evidence can be seen in more recent news with Mack Trucks moving its headquarters to Greensboro and bringing 500 high paying jobs ($78,000 plus a year). When Honda Jet comes on line, it too will offer jobs to hundreds of people with a salary above $70,000 per year. Increasing the average salary in the region is very important because high salaries help attracts things such as high end retail chains (Nordstrom, Saks 5th...ect), more urban construction projects, ect. In other words a major urban region with alot of high paying jobs and amenities.

But these aviation and logistical industries will actually help spur other type of industries including hitech manufacturing. Bottom line, The Triad will finally have an identity and would compliment the ecnomies of Charlotte and the Triangle. With the combined ecnomies of the state's big three metros working together like an orchastra, North Carolina will become an even more power economic engine.

[initiald]

I just heard on NPR today that Mac trucks is moving to Greensboro from Allentown, PA, and will bring 500 jobs. Volvo trucks is already in Greensboro. As a plane spotter, I look forward to seeing some FexEx traffic at PTI. I also want to see some of those Honda jets! I hate that PTI lost Skybus; I had tickets for July and had to cancel my trip.