Changing consumer tastes, e-commerce makes moving freight big business in Georgia.
Virtually everything you touch at your home or workplace – the things you read, wear and eat – spent time in the back of a freight truck.
Georgia already is one of the biggest trucking states in the nation – No. 10, in fact – and it’s only going to get busier. By 2045, trucks will be carrying more than $1.7 billion worth of goods on Georgia’s roads, up from $843 million in 2016, according to a report by TRIP, a Washington, D.C.-based transportation research nonprofit.
That 89% increase in inflation-adjusted dollars during the next two and a half decades is the 17th highest in the nation, according to TRIP’s “America’s Rolling Warehouses” report.
Nowhere is the increased reliance on trucking and logistics more apparent in the Augusta area than at Interstate 20’s Exit 183, which is being beefed up to support additional truck traffic at Columbia County’s White Oak Business Park.
The Georgia Department of Transportation recently awarded an $8.5 million bid to reconstruct the exit to widen the overpass bridge and install two roundabouts to support extra freight movement at the industrial park, in addition to the increasing number of U-Hauls, minivans and SUVs heading into the county’s rapidly developing western frontier.
The 270-acre industrial park is home to Club Car’s semi-new 550,000-square-foot distribution facility, which occupies one 53-acre tract. The park has three other undeveloped sites, so economic development officials and the state are clearly (clearly) expecting more truck-centric development at the site.
There’s a rumor going around that an e-commerce company owned by a fella who looks like Dr. Evil on keto has taken a more-than-casual interest in the park for a distribution center. I don’t have the luxury of reporting on unsubstantiated rumors, so there’s not much I can say about any such development.
However, if that development were to materialize, it would certainly create some additional truck traffic in the Appling-Harlem vicinity.
Fortunately, freight still flows pretty smoothly through the Augusta-Aiken metro area. The region is nowhere to be found on the TRIP report’s list of worst “freight highway bottlenecks,” which was based on the number of trucks on the road and the impact of the congestion.
All three Georgia entries on the top 20 list, including spots No. 2 and 3, were in Atlanta.
Georgia’s worst bottleneck is Interstate 285 at Interstate 85 north, where the average speed during peak hours is 23 mph and the average speed during non-peak hours is 41.
Speeds like those make you wish we moved more freight by rail in this country. That is, until you get stopped at a railroad crossing.
THE CAR REMAINS THE SAME: Ingersoll Rand is putting the finishing touches on the spinoff of its industrial segment, which includes Evans-based Club Car, to Milwaukee, Wis.-based pump and compressor maker Gardner Denver Holdings.
The deal, which was announced last year, will enable Ireland-based Ingersoll Rand’s much larger climate segment to become a “pure-play” HVAC company that will call itself Trane Technologies.
The whole thing can be a tad confusing, so I made an easy-to-follow cheat sheet:
1) Club Car is still called Club Car.
2) Club Car is still owned by a company that calls itself Ingersoll Rand.
3) The company that calls itself Ingersoll Rand is now part of an industrial conglomerate that includes Gardner Denver. Its stock will trade under Ingersoll Rand’s existing “IR” ticker. It will sell golf cars.
4) The company that formerly called itself Ingersoll Rand will be called Trane. Its stock will trade under the ticker “TT.” It will not sell golf cars.
WHAT’S IN YOUR WALLET: Funny thing about gift cards – there’s a good chance you’re sitting on an unused one right now.
Half of U.S. adults own unredeemed gift cards or store credits, including airline redemption vouchers, according to a new Bankrate.com survey.
The report shows the average adult has $167 in unused cards and credits. Collectively, that represents $21 billion in untouched money. Whoa, says Neo.
Start searching through your purses and wallets, because roughly one-quarter of U.S. adults say they have allowed a gift card to expire. About another quarter, 23% said they re-gifted the card; 22% said they lost a card and 8% said they have resold at least one gift card.
Those most likely to be sitting on a mound of unredeemed cards and credits? High-income households ($80,000 or more), with an average of $297; parents with children under 18, with an average of $274; and millennials, with $234.
PARDON ME: Here’s a little bit of trivia on what used to be a household name in Augusta: DeBartolo.
You may recognize the name as Edward DeBartolo, the San Francisco businessman whose company was responsible for developing the now vacant Regency Mall back in the late 1970s. The trivia is that President Trump signed an executive order a couple weeks ago pardoning his son, Eddie DeBartolo Jr., who pleaded guilty in 1998 to failing to report a felony in a bribery case, which led to former Louisiana Gov. Edwin W. Edwards getting sent to federal prison.
DeBartolo, who also used to own the San Francisco 49ers NFL team, never served jail time but did pay $1 million in fines.
Former 49ers wide receiver Jerry Rice thanked Trump at the White House press conference that highlighted what DeBartolo had done on and off the field.
“I think with Eddie and what he has accomplished, what he has done on the football field, off the football field a lot of charity work so we talked about that,” Rice said. “We talked about just being great. You know, trying to be the greatest of all time. And you know, I take my hat off for Donald Trump and what he did.”
NO APPOINTMENTS NECESSARY: Health care providers have been increasingly delivering the services through convenient storefront settings, so it was only a matter of time before animal doctors joined in.
The newest one in town is the VetIQ Petcare Wellness Center, which had its grand opening celebration a couple weeks ago at the Walmart Supercenter at 3209 Deans Bridge Road.
“PetIQ believes that all dogs and cats should have access to quality and affordable veterinary services, and that’s why they are partnering with Walmart and other national retailers to open Wellness Centers where consumers regularly shop,” the company said in a statement.
A licensed veterinarian is on site and no appointments are required, so “pet parents” can take their dogs and cats for regular exams and vaccines when it’s most convenient to their schedule.
PetIQ also has transparent pricing for its services and no hidden fees or office visit charges, which have been known to dissuade pet owners from getting routine and preventive care for their dogs and cats.
So now there’s no excuse to keep Fluffy and Fido up to date.
