Port proposal OK’d by 2 quorum courts

Quorum courts in Crawford and Sebastian counties have voted to express support for a proposal to solicit interest in the development of an intermodal port in Crawford County.

Each quorum court voted to contribute $ 40,000 toward a $ 200,000 fee to hire John Vickerman’s Vickerman and Associates to draw up a “request for expression of interest” and circulate it throughout the port development industry to attract companies to invest in developing a rail, truck and water port on the Arkansas River east of Van Buren.

Sebastian and Crawford counties are two of five entities that form the nucleus of the 7- year- old Western Arkansas Intermodal Authority. The city of Fort Smith and the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority voted to chip in $ 40,000 shares earlier this month.

The fifth entity is Van Buren, and its aldermen are scheduled to vote Monday on approving the city’s contribution.

The proposed port could include an area covering up to 6,000 acres, a slack- water har- bor and an intermodal port for a rail yard, distribution centers and warehouses on the inland side of the levee.

Vickerman told officials with the intermodal authority that his job over nine months would be to gather data, do a market assessment, devise a terminal development plan and send out requests to gauge interest.

He would meet with the companies responding to the requests, review their proposals and make recommendations to the intermodal authority, he said.

He told authority members that he anticipated the project would be a public- private partnership in which a majority of the capital investment would come from the private sector.