West Memphis, Ark., plans $10.9M rail-port project

A $10.9 million plan to extend railroad infrastructure to the Mississippi River port in the city of West Memphis, Ark., awaits final approval by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Officials with the city of West Memphis expect approval by the end of the month to start work on the project that includes upgrading railroad lines and the construction of a 60,000-square-foot warehouse for goods at the 2,000-acre International Rail Logistics Park, just west of the river, according to Arkansas Business.

The DOT awarded the nearly $11 million grant to the city in May 2013. The grant allows the city of West Memphis to buy property for a future container yard and river dock, but the city expects to have to pay between $15 million and $20 million on that part of the project.

As a condition of the grant award, Amsterdam-based Louis Dreyfus Commodities LLC has signed on to build a $40 million development featuring a grain-storage facility and a private harbor south of the port of West Memphis.

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