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Last week, National Gateway representatives discussed how local infrastructure projects can create jobs, enhance a regional economy and reduce air emissions at the Maryland Association of Counties’ annual summer conference in Ocean City, Md.

The gateway, CSX Corp.’s intermodal corridor initiative, would provide “significant” economic benefits to the state of Maryland,” said Sharon Daboin, CSX Transportation’s resident vice president of state government affairs, in a prepared statement. The more than $840 million public-private partnership project calls for creating a double-stack corridor — via track upgrades and clearances — between Mid-Atlantic ports and Midwestern markets.

The National Gateway will create more than 12,000 local jobs and triple market access potential for the Port of Baltimore, said Daboin. In addition, the corridor will shift almost 2 million Maryland highway miles to freight rail, saving the state about $90 million in highway maintenance costs and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by more than 2.5 million tons, she said.

CSX estimates the gateway will create $22 in benefits for each public dollar spent. The project is supported by 39 members of Congress, six governors and 28 state officials, according to the Class I.