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QUINCY, ILL. -- The following information came from the June 1, 2009 edition of the Quincy Area Chamber of Commerce newsletter:

The Quincy Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors has pledged $10,000 to the area's effort to establish the Mid America Intermodal Port Authority and $5,000 to the Quincy Park District to help convert Boots Bush Park into soccer fields.

Following a presentation on May 20 by Port Authority Chairman Ron Brink and Jim Mentesti, president of the Great River Economic Development Foundation, which is spearheading the efforts, the Chamber Board voted unanimously to support the ongoing administrative duties associated with the Port effort.

The Port Authority will improve transportation services for 26 counties in three states, according to Brink.

"We believe that the port will improve the competitiveness of local industry in the global marketplace, while at the same time attracting new industries by creating interconnected inland water transport terminal facilities...and offering the advantage of a general purpose foreign trade zone and sub-zones," said Chamber Board Chairman Mike Gilpin.

The effort to establish a Port Authority has been ongoing for several years.

Permits and land near the terminus of Radio Road in the South Quincy Levee District have been optioned or secured, and studies by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have been successfully completed.

The project is expected to cost $59.8 million; the Port Authority is seeking Stimulus Program funding of $49.8 million for Phase one of the project.

Recent meetings in Washington DC were very positive with a strong endorsement from the Maritime Administration for the project, which they believe will be an excellent pilot project.

According to an analysis by the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs at Western Illinois University in 2006, business development associated with anticipated activity in the Port's Phase One will result in an annual increase of almost $95 million in economic activity in Adams County.