City of Barstow and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway officials hosted a community meeting to share updates on the Barstow International Gateway project.
The Barstow International Gateway project is a nearly 4,500-acre integrated rail facility that would transfer goods from international to domestic containers.
The project would result in a more than $1.5 billion investment in the community, potentially creating more than 20,000 new jobs along with 3,000 to 4,000 construction jobs annually.
The project will also help address logistics and supply chain issues, BNSF officials stated.
During the meeting, Barstow Interim City Manager Andrew Espinoza, Jr. helped introduce key updates on Barstow’s comprehensive General Plan overhaul, initiated in late 2022. The ongoing initiative, driven by increasing development and enhancements, aims to establish new policies and plans that will guide the city’s growth for the next 20 to 25 years.
The recent update addresses the expansion of housing, public safety, recreation, and transportation systems, along with the protection of environmental and cultural resources, city officials stated.
Barstow International Gateway’s state-of-the-art features
The most notable project is the Barstow International Gateway, which will feature over 4,500 acres of state-of-the-art infrastructure, surpassing existing facilities in capacity and technology.
“The Barstow International Gateway is the most significant project our city has undertaken, and we are working diligently to ensure its success,” Espinoza said. “We’ve held stakeholder meetings, surveys, town halls, and open houses to gather input from the community and various government agencies.”
As the main point of the project, BNSF Railway has been working with Barstow city officials and traveling to established facilities, like the BNSF Alliance Intermodal Facility in Texas, to obtain best practices.
The city has already updated its housing element plan and continues to gather public input through a series of town hall meetings, the next of which is scheduled later this month, city leaders stated.
During the most recent town hall meeting, speakers addressed the projects’ key priorities: expanding housing options for current and future residents; improving public services, including schools and recreational facilities; enhancing transportation infrastructure, focusing on roads, bicycle systems and flood control, particularly in areas like the Linwood Channel; and sustaining economic growth by creating job opportunities for Barstow residents.
BNSF officials discussed the process of moving forward with these initiatives despite pushback from the California Air Resources Board, which proposed a “In-Use Locomotive Regulation” that would require zero-emission (such as electric) locomotives in California, which does not yet exist.
If approved, projects like the Barstow International Gateway would be canceled, unable to adhere to the new, costly, and misguided regulations, city leaders said.
A recent amendment approved by the U.S. House of Representatives in July would prohibit a “job-killing” electric locomotive rule, the Daily Press reported.
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