Would include an airport, toll road, railroad, and inland port.

[SpawnOfVulcan]

Group Announces Plans for A $7 Billion Toll Road From Orange Beach To Tennessee

Mobile Press Register
Jeff Amy

Link

A group announced plans for a $7 billion toll road and rail corridor running from Orange Beach to the Tennessee state line this morning, mainly drawing dumbfounded reactions from local and state officials.

“Let me put it this way. I have never heard of these people and I am trying to run down someone who has,” said Tony Harris, a spokesman for the Alabama Department of Transportation.

Ameri-Metro of York, Pa., said it had agreed to build the project for Alabama Toll Facilities Inc. The corridor would include a giant airport and inland port somewhere in central Alabama, according to an Ameri-Metro statement.

Ameri-Metro, headed by Pennsylvania real estate developer Shah Mathias, said it would start work next year and complete the 300-mile route within five years. He said the biggest supporter of the project in Alabama was “the state itself,” and said he was working closely with economic development officials.

State officials said they had no knowledge of the proposal.

Alabama Toll Facilities, which was incorporated in Cullman in 1993, secured a nonbinding state legislative resolution in 2007 supporting the project. Alabama Toll Facilities said then that it was incorporated as a non-profit and planned to sell bonds to finance the road.

“This project – involving both a railway and road system, as well as an inland port — will greatly impact the immediate and long-term economic outlook for the entire region,” Mathias said in a statement. “Once completed, it will be the largest privately financed inland transportation complex in the nation.”

Ameri-Metro said the inland port would be 4,000 acres, larger than the ThyssenKrupp AG site, and include 19 million square feet of warehouse space. Mathias would only say he was eyeing a location around Birmingham or Montgomery for the port, which would also include an airport with four runways, each 18,000 feet long. That’s nearly twice as long as the main runway at Mobile’s Brookley Field, which at 9,600 feet is one of the region's longest.

The inland port is also supposed to include a 60,000 square-foot “Grand Central Station of the South” that would include shops and a hotel, plus a 100,000 square-foot evacuation center.

In an interview, Mathias said he had been involved with the project for a number of years and said Alabama Toll Facilities had signed over all the rights to Ameri-Metro. He said Ameri-Metro planned to mostly sell the $7 billion in taxable bonds through a private offering.

“Those kind of dollars are really not that much when you’re talking about infrastructure.” Mathias said. He said repeatedly that no tax dollars would be used.

The project is reminiscent of the Trans-Texas corridor, a toll road-and-rail network proposed for Texas. The proposal was scrapped amid intense political opposition, although private developers are building some sectors around Austin and San Antonio.

...

Ummm, wow? I question the validity of this proposal. It seems a bit far fetched considering that Alabama officials knew nothing of this... I don't understand how a $7 Billion project could be started so quickly, and finished so soon, especially without the state being a part of it...

Very confusing, the article states that they worked closely with state officials, but the officials are denying it? Or am I reading it incorrectly?

I provided the bolding.

EDIT: BTW, sorry for the effed up title... Maybe a moderator can provide a fix?

[thoraudio]

100% complete and utter B.S.

Ponzi/investment scam.

Just like the guy who was going to build a $10billion electric car company here, going around showing off a 3 year old concept car.

What's amazing to me is the scope of something like this. I deal with 'bio-fuel' schemers on a near daily basis. "I've got a new process that's really going to work this time, and it's completely different than the other 3 I was involved with that failed".

They go around for a few years, gathering investors, go through the steps, and maybe even build a non-working shell facility, and after that well of $ dries up, they declare bankruptcy, and start next week with a new LLC selling the exact same nothing.

But those guys are small fries. Making a claim this large is bound to arouse govt. (and subsequently investor) suspicion. It's weird.

Maybe one of the guys they've got on the hook needed something in the papers before he'd bite, so they threw a press release out there.

[thunder89]

^Agreed

Though it is interesting read, and one that is amazing to fantasize Alabama having such a vast network, it will never go through. This seems too suspicious and as you were saying, its just a ponzi scheme. The fact that NO state officials or local officials of any kind knew of this is the biggest red flag right there.

If something like this would EVER work in Alabama, it would include state interaction. And judging how slow this state is, it wouldn't take 5 years, but 50.

[wong21fr]

^Wow, if you're going to pitch a completely unrealistic proposal to suck up some investor money you might as well go big.

Four 18K ft runways? The longest runway in N.A., commercially, is only 16K ft at DIA.

[thoraudio]

Here are the 'sketches' for the proposed facilities.

http://ameri-metro.com/projects/current-projects

There's lots better artists on here, they probably could have just asked.

[SpawnOfVulcan]

I wonder if they're seriously expecting people to take this seriously. I mean, the shear magnitude of it is so ridiculous that it's laughable... What's the point though? I mean, I'm sure they know they'll face a huge amount of backlash cause they know that people won't buy this crap. So, again, what's the point?

However, I hesitate to say that this wouldn't be successful, if it were in fact built. That being said, it'll never happen. But, can you imagine the economic explosion? Haha, that's even more chuckle-worthy...

[thoraudio]

we were sitting here talking about the economics.

The only way this would ever work, would be if the inland port became the hub for all shipments from China east of the Mississippi. And then you've still got to get it from the ships in Mobile Bay to the port, either through rail or barge.

There's no way there's enough tourist traffic to pay for this. If you're around Nashville and want to go to the beach, it's I-65 all the way. (or maybe the oft rumored Montgomery to Fla toll road).

Are there really enough people west of Nashville to going to the beach to support a $7,000,000,000 road?

Enough air freight traffic for a Memphis/Fed Ex style hub? Doubtful.

Enough rail traffic? No.

I can't think of any way this would ever be feasible.

[HSVTiger]

It takes ALDOT 5 years just to build an interstate interchange.
The infrastructure for the airport already exists in Huntsville with two parallel runways a mile apart, one 12,600' the other 10,000' with room for 3 more runways.
Guess these folks own all of the land required impressive!.

[thunder89]

Here's the picture of a facility along the road. I took a trip to New York last month, and using their toll roads, the facilities look 'similar'



Skimming the website trying to figure out who this company is is peculiar as well. The company itself doesn't seem too credible, and all their projects they have listed never came to fruition, or are currently abandoned. Huntsville Toll Road and Bridge project of 1993? What the heck is that?

I don't know guys, its just fishy and certainly the state will investigate it (if they have any sense that is) and will put an end to it. There's no need for the state to lose any more money that we don't have.

And as it's been said, there is no demand for such a huge network at this time in this state, let alone the region. It would demand a HUGE population to use the road, (when said population can hop on I-65 for free), a sudden urge for every port in the Gulf and Southeast to give up all trade coming through, and there isn't enough need for another airport of that magnitude when, as was said, Huntsville has plenty of room to add on to its field.

This whole 'project' has me unnerved a bit, and just praying that its taken care of quickly before the state, or investors for that matter, lose money

[SpawnOfVulcan]

Originally Posted by thoraudio

we were sitting here talking about the economics.

The only way this would ever work, would be if the inland port became the hub for all shipments from China east of the Mississippi. And then you've still got to get it from the ships in Mobile Bay to the port, either through rail or barge.

There's no way there's enough tourist traffic to pay for this. If you're around Nashville and want to go to the beach, it's I-65 all the way. (or maybe the oft rumored Montgomery to Fla toll road).

Are there really enough people west of Nashville to going to the beach to support a $7,000,000,000 road?

Enough air freight traffic for a Memphis/Fed Ex style hub? Doubtful.

Enough rail traffic? No.

I can't think of any way this would ever be feasible.

I actually think there is enough traffic for the rail line. The other stuff, I there obviously isn't. But, the one thing that is keeping the Port of Mobile back is the fact that its rail connections aren't as good as cities like New Orleans. It currently is quicker for a train to travel from Mobile to LA than from Mobile to Huntsville, so this rail line would probably result in increased business for the Port of Mobile. Of course, that would probably, in turn, reduce the need for a massive inland port.

[BoiseAirport]

Originally Posted by thoraudio

100% complete and utter B.S.

Ponzi/investment scam.

Just like the guy who was going to build a $10billion electric car company here, going around showing off a 3 year old concept car.

What's amazing to me is the scope of something like this. I deal with 'bio-fuel' schemers on a near daily basis. "I've got a new process that's really going to work this time, and it's completely different than the other 3 I was involved with that failed".

They go around for a few years, gathering investors, go through the steps, and maybe even build a non-working shell facility, and after that well of $ dries up, they declare bankruptcy, and start next week with a new LLC selling the exact same nothing.

But those guys are small fries. Making a claim this large is bound to arouse govt. (and subsequently investor) suspicion. It's weird.

Maybe one of the guys they've got on the hook needed something in the papers before he'd bite, so they threw a press release out there.

Agreed. This plan is so outrageously moronic on every level that I would without hesitation call it a scam. 4 18,000 ft. runways? What a joke. I feel sorry for anyone who falls for this and invests money into this project. There is zero economic need for it.

[ttownfeen]

Somebody just trolled al.com into publishing this BS.

Well played, whoever is responsible.

[Colin Giersberg]

As far as the rail line is concerned, It could possibly fly, but that remains to be seen.Norfolk Southern has plans to upgrade their trackage from New Orleans through Birmingham and on to Chattanooga, as well as another section from Memphis, through Decatur and Huntsville and on to Chattanooga.
They call it the Crescent Corridor.

http://www.thefutureneedsus.com/

Depending on the route may be dependent on Norfolk Southern's plans and any that CSX may have.

[thoraudio]

Originally Posted by tredici

I actually think there is enough traffic for the rail line. The other stuff, I there obviously isn't. But, the one thing that is keeping the Port of Mobile back is the fact that its rail connections aren't as good as cities like New Orleans. It currently is quicker for a train to travel from Mobile to LA than from Mobile to Huntsville, so this rail line would probably result in increased business for the Port of Mobile. Of course, that would probably, in turn, reduce the need for a massive inland port.

Did you mean Los Angeles, Lower Alabama or Louisiana?

Travel is tough, but I'm pretty sure CSX has a transport line that runs basically parallel to 65.

[SpawnOfVulcan]

Originally Posted by thoraudio

Did you mean Los Angeles, Lower Alabama or Louisiana?

Travel is tough, but I'm pretty sure CSX has a transport line that runs basically parallel to 65.

Haha, I meant Los Angeles. But, travel between Mobile and areas further north is still quite hindered by an inadequate rail line either way.

[neilson]

Not only is this a scam, I'm actually offended that they got all the press for something that will never see an inch worth of dirt moved. Go home before you go to jail.

[thoraudio]

the thing is, it's all been bad press.

http://blog.al.com/live/2011/09/fili...d_develop.html

This is the lead in to a public stock offering. 500,000 shares at $20 each.

Not only does this potentially raise $10,000,000 in cash, which is small potatoes, if they sell, it gives the owner who holds 10,000,000 shares a 'worth' of $200,000,000.

Which I guarantee will immediately be leveraged into personal loans and other stock swaps, and putting him more than $100,000,000 in the bank before this whole snafu goes belly up.

But with the bad press, I don't think it will ever get that far.

[thoraudio]

it's interesting though. In the pre-internet days this kinda stuff would have worked. You're in Pennsylvania, you pitch that you've an exclusive contract far off in the wilds of Alabama, and you can control the information that your marks get.

Today, not so much.

[WestAlabamaGal]

Originally Posted by thoraudio

100% complete and utter B.S.

Ponzi/investment scam.

Just like the guy who was going to build a $10billion electric car company here, going around showing off a 3 year old concept car.

What's amazing to me is the scope of something like this. I deal with 'bio-fuel' schemers on a near daily basis. "I've got a new process that's really going to work this time, and it's completely different than the other 3 I was involved with that failed".

They go around for a few years, gathering investors, go through the steps, and maybe even build a non-working shell facility, and after that well of $ dries up, they declare bankruptcy, and start next week with a new LLC selling the exact same nothing.

But those guys are small fries. Making a claim this large is bound to arouse govt. (and subsequently investor) suspicion. It's weird.

Maybe one of the guys they've got on the hook needed something in the papers before he'd bite, so they threw a press release out there.

On May 1, 2000, this report appeared in Engineering News-Report (ENR) and it says this toll road was signed into law by the Governor of Alabama. I guess that, since it has been all of eleven years, either the politicians and public officials have had a lapse of memory or rode off into the sunset. ENR doesn't keep indefinite archives but you can read a copy of it here:

http://www.ajfroggie.com/roads/articles/al-tollroad.htm

[WestAlabamaGal]

I noticed that you seem to be the official authority on this $7 billion toll road and have written a ton of remarks and personal opinions on it. Did anyone tell you that the 320-mile toll road is likely to run parallel with State Highway 43 from Orange Beach, AL to Loretto, TN? Did you discover that it is only the first half of the toll road; the last half runs to Chicago, IL? That may help you to adjust your calculations somewhat on its feasability.

On May 1, 2000, Engineering News-Report released this article about the $7 billion toll road and stated that it was signed into law by the Governor of Alabama. It also names the FOREIGN source of financing and a company that hasn't recently been named in connection with this. Read it for yourself:
http://www.ajfroggie.com/roads/articles/al-tollroad.htm

In 1997 I read a news report about CSX and Norfolk Southern Railways discussing the need for a railway system that would run parallel with Interstate Highways but said it should be on a lower level than the interstates. I have no idea if that had anything to do with this recent report. A part of that discussion mentioned that there are too many transport trucks on the interstates and that it is much cheaper to ship by rail than by truck.

I wouldn't dare wager a guess for or against this toll road but I will say that, for a state as poor as Alabama, 14,000 new jobs sure would make a difference in the lives of those needing jobs.