The author, John Marek, is executive director of the Anson Economic Development Partnership.
I just returned from two days in Raleigh attending the Progress In Motion Rail Forum. This annual event brings together leaders from rail-served communities across the state to discuss current trends and development strategies.
Wadesboro is somewhat unusual as a “rail town” because our tracks actually run along the northern boundary of the town limits, as opposed to the more typical alignment in which rail runs through the middle of town. The folks at the historical society could probably explain why that is – I strongly suspect it has to do with the path of U.S. Hwy. 74 – but whether the tracks run through town or a half-mile north of it, Wadesboro’s future economy is unquestionably impacted by them.
In railroad terms, Wadesboro and Anson County are part of the strategic corridor connecting Charlotte and the intermodal facility at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport to the Port of Wilmington. This means that the state has specifically committed funding to improving the rail infrastructure through the county. An early aspect of that was seen two years ago as the railroad replaced all of the ties running through the county and updated most of the crossings in anticipation of the high-speed, double-decker Queen City Express freight trains we now see rolling through town several times per day.
Locally, the Anson 74 Rail Park off Kitty Bennett Road was “relaunched” last summer as a rail-served business park with an integrated trainload facility, and we are in the exploratory phase of another rail-served park on the eastern border of the county which will tie into Interstate 73/74 and compete for logistics operations. Businesses which typically require rail are plastics, paper and wood products, chemicals and steel, and these are generally high-capital investment and job creators; good companies to have, in other words.