About National Gateway
The National Gateway will create jobs, help grow the nation’s economy, reduce carbon emissions and improve the flow of freight throughout our nation. When complete, the National Gateway will better connect Mid Atlantic seaports to consumers and manufacturing centers in the Midwest, allowing manufacturers to receive raw materials and distribute finished goods to consumers in a more efficient and less costly manner.
In order to realize the economic and environmental benefits of double-stack trains, tunnels and clearances under bridges must be raised to accommodate the height of freight containers stacked two high.
The National Gateway will address several key freight rail corridors as vital links between Mid Atlantic seaports and key Midwest distribution points and population centers. For clarity, these rail corridors are often informally named for parallel Interstate highways:
- The I-95/I-81 Corridor between North Carolina and Baltimore, Maryland via Washington, D.C.
- The I-70/I-76 Corridor between Washington, D.C. and northwest Ohio via Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- The I-40/Carolina Corridor between Wilmington, North Carolina and Charlotte, North Carolina
The freight transportation industry employs more than 10 million people1. The National
Gateway will create more than 50,000 jobs and is supported by a broad and diverse group of more than
300 public and private sector organizations and individuals, including Big Lots!, UPS and The Limited.
Every dollar of public money invested in the National Gateway creates $36 in public benefits.
1 - “The Case for Capacity: To Unlock Gridlock, Generate Jobs, Deliver Freight, and Connect Communities,” American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, July 2010. Accessed at http://expandingcapacity.transportation.org/unlocking_freight/images/FreightReportFinal_7710.pdf.