Our executive director recently penned a piece explaining why the GA port expansion held so much promise for the Gwinnett Village area (our CID is home to 1/4 of all industrial space in Gwinnett County). A recent article in the Gwinnett Daily Post reinforces the link between Gwinnett and Georgia’s ports and delves further into the impact the Savannah Port expansion is likely to have on Georgia’s second largest county.
At a recent presentation, the head of Georgia’s Port Authority said that over 25,000 Gwinnett based jobs are related to cargo that passes through Georgia’s ports. That’s no accident- according to Partnership Gwinnett, the County’s location within the surrounding highway network places 60% of the nation’s industrial base within two days’ trucking time and 7.7 million tons of freight move through Gwinnett on a weekly basis.
In the article, Gwinnett County Chairman, Charlotte Nash highlighted three major points:
- The importance of I-85 and GA-316 as freight corridors
- A GA Tech study that projected Gwinnett will have the second largest inland impact from the port expansion (behind only Fulton County)
- The importance of some of Gwinnett’s planned road projects to help support the influx that’s expected- apparently Gwinnett voters recognize that importance as well.
“A lot of people don’t think of us as being a large distribution area, actually imports and exports, both directions, but it’s a huge deal for Gwinnett County,” she said. “Of course, it’s going to have an impact for the state as a whole, but we’re going to see concentrated impacts here in Gwinnett.”
Gwinnett is in the process of finalizing their updated comprehensive transportation plan, which is sure to call for further improvement to support the County’s growth in manufacturing and logistics. We are also always looking for fresh ideas to support our local businesses.
If you own industrial property in our district and see improvements in our community that would help you grow, please take the time and reach out to us. Our area is well positioned to take advantage of the influx of freight that is coming to Gwinnett. If we can be a partner in helping improve access to our industrial areas then the time is now to start those discussions.
