By Eric Stock
BLOOMINGTON – All roads lead to Bloomington-Normal, or at least enough of them to possibly land some transportation business.
CEO of the Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Council Kyle Ham told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin the convergence of interstates 39, 55 and 74 makes the Twin Cities a prime location for a transportation or logistics company to locate here.
PODCAST: Listen to Scott and Colleen’s interview with Ham on WJBC.
“If you go up the (interstate) 39 corridor, a lot of those interchanges, (interstates) 80 and 88 and all the way to Rockford (have) lots of logistics activities happening around those interchanges, so we think being a part of that corridor is important”
The EDC will explore how the area can capitalize on its role as a transportation hub next week when it hears from an economic development consultant discussing business potential along the I-39 corridor.
Roger Hopkins, president of Hopkins Solutions, will provide the keynote at the BN by the Numbers luncheon on Dec. 17 at 11:30 a.m. at the Illinois State University Alumni Center in Normal.
The EDC has tickets available for $25 which includes lunch. Registration is available by calling Becky Kirkpatrick at (309) 452-8437.
Bloomington-Normal’s potential as a transportation hub has local economic developers buzzing about new business opportunities. The first could be Amazon which plans to build one warehouse in the Chicago area and add a second location in Illinois at a later date.
“You are going to see more expansion of these companies,” Ham said. “Part of what we have to do is let them know we are open for business.”
Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].
