Inland port takes a back seat

Dallas is not going to push the Texas Legislature this session for inland port status for the southern sector of the city and southside suburbs like Lancaster. Given that the Lege is on a two-year cycle, and nothing’s likely to be done without a Dallas push, that means waiting two years.

How will this affect The Allen Group? I would think they would be staring earthwork at least by two years from now.

Plus, the February issue of Dallas CEO notes that inland ports that cross government boundaries usually abound in headaches. People it quotes say this will be different.

And, here you have this wonderful quote from the mag article:

The City of Dallas is so certain this inland port concept, it’s already calculating its portion of the benefits.

Oops… didn’t it just put those calculations on ice for two years?

Beyond that, I still say, first of all, that intermodal transportation is being built with no consideration to how a near-term arrival of Peak Oil will affect trade with China. Second, as i have blogged before, the question of how much capacity is too much has not been touched with a 10-foot pole. I'm not being a naysayer, just cautious.

Finally, and here’s the biggie:

What’s to stop this inland port craze to be some sort of race-to-the-bottom EDC-type adventure? Why shouldn’t St. Louis try to become an inland port? Or Kansas City, where BNSF, incorporating the old Santa Fe Railroad, has a hub? Or Denver? Or U-Pac hub Omaha?

And who renamed the airport “Lancaster Executive Airport” for the magazine article? Puhleeze.