Roads, Rail, Airports Make Wyoming Easy to Reach
Published Nov 03, 2009
Wyoming still has plenty of wide-open space, but it also has a solid transportation infrastructure that supports a growing network of industrial parks throughout the state.
Toss in major rail freight service, a statewide high-speed communications network and 10 commercial air facilities, and Wyoming is not only open, it is open for business.
In Cody, Yellowstone Regional Airport broke ground in August on a $5.6 million terminal that will open in 2011, says James Klessens, president and CEO of Forward Cody.
The 28,000-square-foot facility will more than double existing terminal space, and the older building can be reconfigured for offices as part of the Airport Industrial Park.
The site has 36 acres broken into lots from 4 to 7 acres, Klessens says.
With 66 ready acres, North Cody Industrial Park is getting $3 million in water improvements and already has a Burlington Northern rail spur. “Because of our Old West history, firearms manufacturing is one target, also companies that build outdoor products, and climbing gear,” Klessen says. “It would be an ideal location.”
Casper is home to one of the biggest new developments, the 700-acre Casper Logistics Hub, which includes the CTRAN rail yard and transloading facility. Already, shipments of huge wind turbines and other big equipment have been off-loaded in Cody.
“A few years ago, someone needed some 150-foot pipe in here, and they had to off-load it in Sidney, Neb., and truck it in. This is a much-needed facility, and I think it will spur some interest,” says Neil McMurry, a principal with Granite Peak Development LLC, which put together the project.
The Casper area has multiple industrial parks: By Pass Industrial Park, with five sites left on 66 acres; Cole Creek Industrial Park in Evansville, with 65 acres; Burd Road Industrial Park in Casper, with 44 acres; and East Lathrop Addition, which has another 42 acres in Evansville.
All corners of Wyoming are tapping into similar assets for commercial development.
In the capital city, for example, the 900-acre Cheyenne Business Parkway has 300 acres available in parcels ranging up to 50 acres. The park has access to I-80 and I-25. The nearby North Range Business Park consists of 21 sites on 620 acres; about 374 acres are available in sizes from 11 to 100 acres. The park is located next to the I-80/I-25 crossroads and has its own interchange on I-80.
To the north, Gillette has at least eight business or industrial parks with 50 acres or more, including Gillette Energy Park, a 330-acre development with rail service.
In Upton County, Weston received a grant from the Wyoming Business Council to buy 550 acres for an industrial park that now is home of a company producing biomass from wood. It has rail access, says Linda Harris, director of Northeast Wyoming Economic Development Coalition.
The coalition represents five counties, including Converse County, where a new business park adjacent to I-25 houses a small airstrip and an airplane kit manufacturer, she says.
“Companies always want to know about access to transportation,” Harris says.
Story by Pamela Coyle
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