TRANSPORTATION
Rail Service
Starke County has the unique advantage of being strategically placed within the continental rail network. The County is directly served by the two largest Class I railroads in the eastern United States, the Norfolk Southern and CSX railroads. In addition, the main lines for both railroads, connecting Chicago to the East Coast pass just north of the County line. The main line for another Class I railroad, the Grand Trunk, which links Chicago to Lower Michigan and Canada, is also very close to the county's northern boundary.
Secondary lines for both the Norfolk Southern and CSX directly serve the Starke County. These lines connect Fort Wayne, Indiana, central Ohio, and points to the East Coast, with Chicago. Norfolk Southern operates about 40 trains per day on its line, and provides local freight service on a six-day per week basis. The railroads have actively supported the development of these lines for heavy industry purposes. Scrap-based steel, steel processing, non-ferrous metals, plastics, and auto parts industries are located along this corridor in Indiana and into Ohio and western Pennsylvania.
The CSX railroad, via the line from Fort Wayne to Chicago, serves the Hamlet Industrial Park. There is one CSX customer at Hamlet, Norton Packaging, a producer of plastic pails. CSX operates a gondola car service to deliver plastic pellets, the raw material for Norton's manufacturing operation.
A CSX branch line serves southern Starke County and northern Pulaski County. This line provides bulk grain transport service to the area, by connecting to two CSX lines, the Fort Wayne to Chicago line which passes through the county and serves Hamlet, and the CSX mainline from Chicago to the east coast, which is just north of the county line. This CSX branch line passes through North Judson, but there are no existing industrial customers at the North Judson Industrial Park, or in the North Judson area at this time. Both the Hamlet and North Judson areas would be attractive to new developments that require immediate access to rail service.
Trucking Services
Although there are only 4 trucking firms located within Starke County, within the nine county labor market region, there are 365 firms. (Table 17). This is evidence of the region's commitment to heavy industry, manufacturing, and warehousing and distribution functions, which all require access to a broad array of trucking services.
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Table 17 - TRUCKING FIRMS WITHIN STARKE COUNTY, INDIANA | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starke County, IN | Number of Trucking Firms | |||
| Knox | 2 | |||
| San Pierre | 2 | |||
| Region | Community | Number of Trucking Firms | ||
| Elkhart County | Elkhart Goshen Nappanee |
24 12 1 | ||
| Jasper County | Rensselaer Other communities |
2 7 | ||
| Lake County | Gary Hammond East Chicago Merrillville Hobart Schererville Munster Crown Point Griffith Dyer Whiting Other communities |
63 33 10 7 6 5 3 14 9 4 3 18 | ||
| La Porte County | Michigan City La Porte Other communities |
11 12 4 | ||
| Marshall County | Plymouth Other communities |
8 2 | ||
| Porter County | Portage Valparaiso Chesterton Other communities |
18 13 11 4 | ||
| Pulaski County | Winamac | 1 | ||
| St. Joseph County | South Bend Mishawaka Granger Other communities |
38 9 3 6 | ||
| Total Region | 365 | |||
Source: Yahoo Yellow Pages | ||||
Project Future, the economic development agency for St. Joseph County, Indiana (part of the Starke County labor market region, see Table 6), completed a survey of the trucking industry in St. Joseph County during the year 2000. They found that of the 40 firms surveyed, 34 had a local terminal facility, 25 offered national service (truckload and less than truckload) from their facility, and many offered a variety of specialized services including refrigeration service, heavy hauling, expedited services, and express delivery. It is likely that the firms based in the other counties of the region would also offer such a variety of services.
Air Service
Starke County is well-served by local and regional airports. Starke County airport is a general aviation airport with a 4,400 foot asphalt runway, 30 bay T hanger, main hanger, and self-service aviation fuel pumps. Regularly scheduled air service does not exist at present. The airport serves the general public and private aviation needs.
The closest airport to Starke County with scheduled service is located in South Bend, Indiana, about 51 miles, or 1 hour driving time to the north. (Table 18). The South Bend Regional Airport is second largest airport in Indiana (in terms of flight traffic), and the largest feeder airport to Chicago-O'Hare International Airport, the second busiest airport in the nation.
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Table 18 - DISTANCE AND DRIVING TIME TO SELECTED MIDWEST AIRPORTS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airport | Location | Distance (miles) |
Time (hours, minutes) |
Comments |
| South Bend Regional Airport | South Bend, IN | 51 | 1 hr.,7 min. | |
| Gary Regional Airport | Gary, IN | 59 | 1 hr., 7 min. | |
| Chicago Midway Airport | Chicago, IL | 84 | 1 hr., 42 min. | hub for ATA |
| Fort Wayne International Airport | Fort Wayne, IN | 110 | 2 hrs., 11 min. | |
| Chicago - O'Hare International Airport | Chicago, IL | 111 | 1 hr., 57 min. | hub: United & American Airlines |
| Kalamazoo-Battle Creek International Airport | Battle Creek, MI | 117 | 2 hrs., 03 min. | |
| Indianapolis International Airport | Indianapolis, IN | 128 | 2 hrs., 35 min. | hub for Southwest Airlines |
| Kent County International Airport | Grand Rapids, MI | 165 | 2 hrs, 55 min. | |
| General Mitchell Field | Milwaukee, WI | 178 | 3 hrs., 0 min. | hub for Midwest Express |
| Toledo Express Airport | Toledo, OH | 188 | 3 hrs., 13 min. | |
| Detroit Metro./Wayne County Int'l Airport | Detroit, MI | 238 | 3 hrs., 56 min. | hub for Northwest Airlines |
| Cincinnati - Northern Kentucky Int'l Airport | Cincinnati/ north. KY | 238 | 4 hrs., 20 min. | hub for Delta Airlines |
| Port Columbus International Airport | Columbus, OH | 254 | 5 hrs., 08 min. | |
| Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport | Cleveland, OH | 296 | 4 hrs., 58 min. | hub for Continental Airlines |
| Greater Pittsburgh International Airport | Pittsburgh, PA | 420 | 6 hrs., 56 min. | hub for US Airways |
Convenient access to South Bend Regional Airport has significant advantages to commercial travellers, and those dependent upon express package service and air freight. For commercial travellers, the choice of airlines and destinations is broad. There are six airlines that offer scheduled flights serving eight hub airports in the Midwest and the Southeast. (Table 19). A large amount of air freight traffic, distributed over a number of different carriers, also moves through the airport, about an average of 15 million pounds per month. Fedex, United Parcel Service (UPS), and Airborne Express have facilities at, and have aircraft based or using the airport there on a regular basis.
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Table 19 - SCHEDULED AIRLINE SERVICES AVAILABLE | |
|---|---|
| Airline | Destination |
| American Connection | St. Louis International Airport - Lambert Field - hub for American Airlines |
| ATA Connection | Chicago Midway - hub for ATA |
| Comair (Delta Airlines) | Cincinnati - Northern Kentucky International Airport - hub for Delta |
| Atlanta - Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport - hub for Delta | |
| Northwest Airlines | Detroit - Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport - hub for Northwest |
| Minneapolis - St. Paul International Airport - hub for Northwest | |
| US Airways | Pittsburgh - Greater Pittsburgh International Airport - hub for US Airways |
| United Express | Chicago - O'Hare International Airport - hub for United and American Airlines |
Within two hours of Starke County, there are an additional five airports (Table 18). Chicago Midway and Chicago O'Hare are close enough for the business traveller to utilize these airports via ground transport. Limo service the Chicago airports is also available at various locations in the region, such as South Bend and Michigan City. The number and variety of hub airports (by carrier) within convenient trucking range from Starke County is a particular advantage to businesses requiring competitive rates for air freight. As Table 18 indicates, there are some 13 airports within 5 hours of Starke County, seven of which are hub airports.