Georgia's state government will foot part of the bill for a railroad to the LaFayette industrial park, local officials say.
Larry Brooks, executive director of the Walker County Development Authority, said the Georgia Department of Transportation has committed $1 million to building the railroad. It will run from the the Chattooga and Chickamauga Railway that cuts through LaFayette to the Walker County Business Park, located off U.S. Highway 27.
The railway is coming in for Audia International, a plastics maker that is going to build a 240,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in the industrial park. Brooks said the company plans to begin construction soon and open for operation on Aug. 1.
The plant will bring 150 jobs to Walker County, though Brooks believes those numbers could double with time. A spokesman for the Pennsylvania-based company did not return a call seeking comment Thursday.
Brooks said GDOT has signed a contract to give $1 mllion for Genesee & Wyoming Inc., which owns and operates short line and regional freight railroads across North America, to build the railroad. GDOT's offices were closed Thursday because of the snow, and Nancy Cobb, the county's contact on this agreement, did not respond to questions to her email address.
Bill Jasper, senior vice president of Genesee & Wyoming's Southern region railroads, also did not return a call for this story.
Before anybody can build the railroad, though, Brooks said the county will have to prepare the railroad bed. He said construction workers need to excavate land dotted with lumps and hills.
Leveling the area will take between 30 and 60 days, Brooks said. But that's assuming the weather is suitable for that kind of construction. He said this part of the project will cost the county a little bit north of $1 million.
Brooks said the county began courting GDOT in November. Cobb and State Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, pitched the idea of state funding to Gov. Nathan Deal. Mullis is also the executive director of the Northwest Georgia Joint Development Authority.
Audia will be the first company to build a plant in Walker County's 480-acre industrial park. When the railroad is finished, Brooks hopes other companies will choose to develop in the area.
"We've got the investment," he said. "We've got some real positive momentum going forward."
Contact Staff Writer Tyler Jett at tjett@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6476.