By road, rail, water and air...
Northeast Ohio means business
Northeast Ohio offers a strategic location and the intermodal transportation resources businesses need to succeed in today's intensely competitive global marketplace.
Geographic Advantage: Northeast Ohio is a major industrial corridor in the center of the five of the nation’s largest markets: New York, Chicago, Cleveland/Pittsburgh, Philadelphia/Baltimore/DC, and Atlanta. It is within a day’s drive (a 500-mile radius) of more than 50% of U.S. and Canadian manufacturing facilities, and more than 50% of the top 500 U.S. industrial and service corporate headquarters. This central location gives businesses convenient access to customers and markets around the world.
A World-Class Multimodal Logistics Hub: Building on its strategic location, Northeast Ohio also offers an efficient, multimodal transportation system…a seamless network of highways, waterways, railroads and airport facilities that enables companies to ship goods quickly and economically to any domestic or foreign market. With transportation amounting to as much as 10% of total business costs, Northeast Ohio’s geographic and intermodal assets are the cost-reduction features needed for business growth and success
Road
Northeast Ohio is one of the country’s leading trucking centers. A number of major highways traverse the region, providing direct access to all markets and enabling quick product delivery. This includes Interstates 70, 71, 76, 77, 80 (the Ohio Turnpike) and 90, as well as numerous 2-lane and 4-lane U.S. routes and state highways. State Route 11, “the lake to river highway,” links Lake Erie in Ashtabula County to the Ohio River in Columbiana County, facilitating efficient multimodal transportation options.
Rail
Shipping by rail is a viable and attractive option in Northeast Ohio, where hundreds of miles of track are operated by three Class 1 railroads and several regional railroads. These rail companies, including Canadian National, Central Columbiana and Pennsylvania, CSX, Norfolk Southern, Bessemer & Lake Erie, and Wheeling & Lake Erie, link Northeast Ohio to key markets in the U.S. and Canada. NEOMODAL, a stateof-the-art intermodal terminal located in Stark County on the regional Wheeling & Lake Erie line, offers access to Canadian National Railway, which serves the ports of Vancouver, Montreal and Halifax.
Water
The availability of low-cost water transportation is a big plus for businesses in Northeast Ohio. Lake Erie ports in Cleveland, Ashtabula, Fairport Harbor and Conneaut connect the upper Midwest with the St. Lawrence Seaway. Inland ports along the Ohio River provide low-cost shipping opportunities via the Mississippi River and the Port of New Orleans. A new rail/truck/barge facility developed on the Ohio River at the Wellsville, Ohio, Intermodal Industrial Park helps move millions of tons of maritime cargo through the region annually.
Air
Four major commercial airports serve Northeast Ohio, connecting passengers and freight to the global marketplace:
• Cleveland Hopkins International Airport
• Akron-Canton Airport
• Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport
• Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport
Private aircraft have use of numerous county and local airports throughout the region.
