After loading 24 cargo containers at Norfolk International Terminals, left, the 64 Express barge sailed on its maiden voyage to the port of Richmond late Monday afternoon, said Steve McGowan, operations manager for Norfolk Tug Co., which owns and operates the barge line.
The barge is scheduled to arrive in Richmond at about 8 a.m. today and unload around 1 p.m., he said. From now on, the 64 Express is scheduled to make weekly trips along the James River, reducing truck traffic by as much as 58,000 trips by 2011, according to a news release.
"It's important to this community for a lot of different reasons, from road congestion to environmental quality to commerce," McGowan said. "This is an absolutely perfect opportunity to use our natural resources to move commerce."
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Still a work in progress
This is a great experiment and one that works I hope. Anything that can be done to remove trucks off the highways between Richmond and Hampton Roads has to be a good thing. If it works out well enough, hopefully the service will be expanded. Now if they could just expand the service to moving containers between the different port facilities of Hampton Roads we could REALLY see a reduction of traffic on local roads.
And I don't doubt the trucks coming back from Richmond would be loaded with other containers.
Check your Calcs. diamondjack
The math is as follows: 24X2=48 per day 48X7=336 per week (assuming 7 day operation) 336X52=17,472 per year and finally 17,472X3=52,416 trucks in 3 years.
its not a constant
that number accounts for expected growth. When has anything been done that was projected to remain the same?
number of trips
After reading the article about it will reduce truck traffic by 58,000 by 2011 I got my calculator out and did the math 24x2=48 assuming the trucks returned empty. 48x52=2496 trips per year. 2496x3=7488 trips. the 52 equals number of weeks per year. The 3 indicates number of years!. Now I know my calculator may need more sunshine to work properly but I don't think it is off that much. I agree that the river is better than I64/I95.