WAYNE COUNTY, WV (WOWK) – Ownership of the Heartland Intermodal Gateway in Prichard, West Virginia is switching hands.
West Virginia Governor Jim Justice announced today, Thursday, Aug. 11, that ownership is being transferred from the West Virginia Department of Transportation’s Division of Multimodal Transportation Facilities to Wayne County Commission.
This switch was approved by the West Virginia Board of Public Works on July 26, 2022. The commission thanked the governor for supporting the transfer.
The 65-acre facility was built by the former West Virginia Public Port Authority after an agreement with the Norfolk Southern Railroad in 2013 and was designed to transfer 20-foot and 40-foot shipping containers between railcars and trucks, according to the governor’s office.
Justice says he and the WVDOT decided transferring ownership to local stakeholders would be the best use of the facility.