HERSHEY, Neb. — Commissioners in Nebraska’s Lincoln County have voted to create an inland port authority to manage a planned rail-served industrial park, and to buy an adjacent factory site with a rail spur crucial to the industrial park plan.
The North Platte Telegraph reports the commissioners voted 5-0 on Monday to create the port authority to manage the 339-acre facility adjacent to Union Pacific’s Overland Route main line and near North Platte’s Bailey Yard.
If the Nebraska Department of Economic Development agrees with the county’s plan, commissioners would then appoint a nine-member board, which would oversee operation of the facility as an inland port district.
The commissioners also voted to authorize the board chairman and a county attorney to negotiate a $4.5 million purchase of the former Greenbrier Rail Services factory, which would provide office space and space for inspections of shipments.
Monday’s votes came less than a week after the North Platte Area Chamber & Development Corp., which is seeking to develop the industrial park, learned it will receive $30 million in state funding for the project [see “State will provide funding …,” Trains News Wire, June 24, 2022].
