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Business View Magazine
partnership with the State of Illinois, which purchased
the land along the river for 36 miles. There’s 20,000
acres of land that’s owned by the state. We’re able
to request sites for development, when needed. We’re
the only entity that can do that in this corridor - private
opportunity comes through the Port. So, we serve as
that mechanism for a private tenant to locate in a port
location.”
The Port District oversees terminals at four locations,
with a fifth just getting open for business. “We’re de-
veloping one at Fayetteville,” Weilbacher says. “That’s
a 128-acre site at Mile 36 on the Kaskaskia River. We
had envisioned a coal terminal there, but the coal mar-
ket is not responding, so I don’t know if it will happen.
If Peabody Coal was to expand it would be their num-
ber one location to do that. But, I don’t see that hap-
pening now with the current conditions. We’re close
to Scott Air Force Base, so we see it maybe as a link
to supply fuel to the base by barge and pipeline. But
that’s a long-range plan. We also see it as a place to
bring gravel and other aggregates up to that location
for distribution, because they’re far from some quar-
ries and this might be a good way to supply the market
in that area.”
The next location, moving from north to south, is called
KRPD1. It’s a 140-acre site at Mile 24.5 on the Kas-
kaskia, in New Athens, IL. Its outbound loading facility
was built by Peabody Coal in 1977, which operated it
until 1999. “It was the first site built for the Port.” says
Weilbacher. “And through that location, we shipped
about 60 million tons of coal over the years.” KRPD1,
which connects with the Canadian National Railroad,
is capable of handling 3,000 tons per hour of bulk
material from rail or truck to barge. A new, in-bound,
off-loading facility was recently built that consists of a
barge equipped with a hydraulic trackhoe and conveyor
that loads trains bound for the Midwest and beyond. A
roll-off/roll-on ramp can handle oversized equipment.
“We’ve marketed our KRPD1 location for a couple of
