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Next month, the planners of a $266 million, three-state intermodal corridor expect to conduct a meeting to discuss the project's feasibility.

Norfolk Southern Railway, the Kanawha Valley Local Port District, West Virginia Public Port Authority, Ohio Rail Development Commission, Ohio Department of Transportation and Virginia Port Authority plan to build the "Heartland Corridor," a dedicated double-stack container line between Norfolk, Va., ports and Columbus, Ohio.

The project would include upgrading NS' lines, reconstructing 28 rail tunnels and 24 overhead obstructions, and building intermodal ramps in Roanoke, Va., Prichard, W.Va., and Columbus, where an Ohio River port facility, industrial park and warehouse would tie in to the ramp.

The corridor is designed to capitalize on NS' routes, inland ports along the Ohio River and intersecting interstates to increase the river basin's intermodal traffic volume.

The project will address facility requirements to accommodate a projected 200 percent increase in South American import/export traffic per a recent Latin American trade and transportation study, corridor planners believe.

"[The district] wants to be ready to capitalize on this intermodal transportation trend as an economic generator for the vitality of the entire three-state region," said Kanawha Valley Local Port District Director Stephen Weir in a prepared statement.