Savannah, Ga. – March 1, 2017 – At a public meeting Tuesday, representatives from Garden City, Chatham County and the Georgia Ports Authority discussed a proposal that would greatly reduce the use of rail crossings around Garden City Terminal, while increasing capacity and jobs for the local community.

The meeting focused on installation of an overpass at State Route 25. The road improvement will take vehicular traffic over planned new rail lines and Pipemakers Canal. It is proposed in conjunction with an on-terminal project that will double GPA’s rail capacity to 1 million containers per year. The new port infrastructure will remove the need to stop trains off terminal to switch rail cars, an activity which has impacted traffic on commuter routes.

The Georgia Ports Authority marked 12.3 percent container volume growth in December, moving 292,172 twenty-foot equivalent container units, an increase of 32,099 TEUs compared to December 2015, a record for the GPA. Roll-on/Roll-off cargo mirrored that growth, with a 12.3 percent increase (7,000 units) in passenger vehicles and heavy equipment handled at Colonel’s Island terminal in Brunswick and Ocean Terminal in Savannah. Georgia’s deepwater ports moved 63,967 Ro/Ro units last month.