Icon (Close Menu)

Logout

Ground Broken for Arkansas River Resource Center at LR Port Authority

2 min read

Ground was broken Thursday morning on a new, 5,000-SF home for the Little Rock Port Authority.

The Arkansas River Resource Center will be located on 4.2 acres at the end of Industrial Harbor Drive on the banks of the Arkansas River. In addition to the Port Authority, the center also will house the Little Rock Port Authority Shortline Railroad and the Arkansas Waterways Commission.

The facility will feature high-tech audio-visual systems, conference rooms and meeting space, according to a press release, and is designed to enhance economic development, marketing and educational activities related to navigation of the Arkansas River.

“The Port of Little Rock is an incredible economic engine for the city and it’s vitally important to our growth,” said Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola. “This new investment is further example of the decades of planning and vision that has made Little Rock a regional powerhouse in industrial and economic development.”

Jon Wickliffe, chairman of the Little Rock Port Authority said the new center will help Little Rock and the region attract new companies and jobs.

The Port of Little Rock was established in 1959 by the city through state legislation.

Adjacent to I-440, which connects I-30 and I-40, the Little Rock Port Authority is on the 448-mile McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System, which runs from the Mississippi River northwest to Tulsa and the Port of Catoosa.

The port includes a 2,640-acre industrial park, two full-service river terminals, its own switching railroad, a slackwater harbor, and is designated as a U.S. Customs Point of Entry and Foreign Trade Zone 14.

Send this to a friend