WITTMANN, Ariz. – BNSF Railway held a contentious community meeting this week in Wittmann, Ariz., regarding its proposed $3.2 billion logistics and intermodal hub.
The project spans 4,270 acres and would be BNSF’s first to include an intermodal terminal, warehouse and distribution facilities, and rail-served sites for carload and bulk commodity customers.
Many residents, particularly those involved in equestrian activities, strongly oppose the project, citing lifestyle disruption, increased noise, and traffic, according to a report by the Arizona Republic newspaper.
BNSF says it has modified its plans to address concerns, including increasing setbacks, adding berms, and removing some road access points.
Some residents have asked BNSF to buy their homes, saying they feel boxed in by the project, which still needs county approval. The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is expected to consider the project on Aug. 20.
If approved, construction could begin in late 2025, with the intermodal terminal opening in 2028.
Compared to BNSF, UP inbound traffic into Phoenix is miniscule. BNSF has most of the customer base – autos, lumber, COFC. And most of the business on the West side of town…the Surprise/El Mirage area East of Loop 303..gets rail service. Mark Anthony Brewing, better known as White Claw Hard Seltzer, is big customer. Also Nestle just opened a plant to make liquid creamer. It gets served off of the former branch to Luke AFB and even has its own Trackmobile.
I have to wonder why UPRR isn’t entertaining a similar idea of reopening their old embargoed mainline between Phoenix and Wellton, AZ with a large intermodal facility??? That existing Wellton-Phoenix route appears potentially faster and more direct than BNSF’s. And I also believe there may be much less NIMBY activity problems west of Phoenix.
And Amtrak could return to their original -Wellton route encouraging more tourist and other high speed passenger business to downtown Phoenix without the Amtrak shuttle bus nonsense to/from their other parallel mainline near/at Casa Grande.
Surprise, surprise, surprise!