Travero to build 259,000-square-foot logistics park in Fairfax

FAIRFAX - Travero, Alliant Energy's transportation subsidiary, is building a 259,000-square-foot facility as part of a 101-acre logistics park on Lefebure Road in Fairfax.

Logistics Park Cedar Rapids - construction began in August and is expected to be completed by September 2021 - will provide companies with warehousing and a place to transfer freight between rail service and trucking.

'The Logistics Park will offer services that will allow shippers and industries in the area - in Iowa and really throughout the region - to benefit from the connectivity between road and rail,” said Jeff Woods, Travero's director of business development.

The number of jobs from the project still is 'to be determined,” Woods said, but likely will be between 15 and 20.

Logistics Park Cedar Rapids will give Eastern Iowa companies improved access to rail, Woods said, which is more efficient for longer shipping routes.

One rail car can hold three to four truck loads of products, according to a 2019 report from the Iowa Department of Transportation.

'We need more areas where shippers can have access to use the economies of rail over the long haul to get the products close,” Woods said.

'And then use the trucks for what we refer to in the industry as last-mile service or first-mile service. ...

Rather than having those four truck loads come 1,000 miles, you're having one rail car come 1,000 miles.”

The project is part of Alliant Energy's Big Cedar Industrial Center, a 1,931-acre 'mega site” available for business development. The location is a couple miles away from Interstate 380 and Eastern Iowa Airport.

Travero already has Logistics Park Dubuque, a 250,000-square-foot facility on a 100-acre property in East Dubuque, Ill., 'oriented toward river-type traffic.”

The company previously operated as Alliant Energy Transportation before changing its name to Travero in July.

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