New rail park: Partnering, Texas style

Levelland is a small Texas town (pop. 12,866) with big ideas. One of them came to fruition this week with completion of an $8.6 million industrial rail park. A three-way public/private partnership made it possible.

“We broke ground less than one year ago,” Dave Quinn, executive director of the Levelland Economic Development Corporation (LEDC), said Wednesday. “We’re very excited—not only for our city, but for the entire West Texas region.”

The rail portion of the project, which includes a 300-acre development for new businesses , received $3.3 million in federal stimulus funds along with $1.5 million from LEDC and $3.8 million in the form of a loan through bonds sold by the city.

The partnering went beyond funding. Utility companies coordinated to make way for Railroad Specialties, Inc., of Littleton, Colo., to install more than 21,000 track feet of 132-pound rail and concrete crossties.

Bottom line: Quinn expects the rail park will create 1,00 jobs and $100 million in new capital investment over the next 10 years.