GAINESVILLE, Ga. — Freight bound to and from the coast now has a rail shortcut into northeast Georgia, and Gov. Brian Kemp marked the formal launch of the $134 million Gainesville Inland Port on Thursday.
The rail yard sits off White Sulphur Road near Ga. 365 in Hall County. It began operating earlier this year and lets containers ride Norfolk Southern trains between the coast and Gainesville instead of moving by truck the whole way. The Georgia Ports Authority expects the switch to take about 26,000 containers off the road in the terminal first year, easing truck traffic on Atlanta-area and other Georgia highways.
The terminal can handle up to 200,000 containers a year, ties into the 40 weekly ship calls on the coast and gives trucks quick access to Interstates 85 and 985. It serves shippers across north Georgia and the Carolinas. Inbound boxes so far carry household and retail goods plus parts for manufacturers, while outbound loads include farm, forest and factory products.
Kemp pitched the project as a jobs and growth engine, saying wages paid at the site and spending by truckers ripple through the local economy. Northeast Georgia counts a consumer market of about 2 million people and more than 300 manufacturers, and since 2020 Gainesville and Hall County have drawn $2 billion in investment and upward of 4,800 jobs from 78 companies that are new or growing.
The ports authority also paid for $4.8 million in Hall County road work tied to the terminal, removing a rail crossing at street level, rerouting White Sulphur Road and resurfacing Cagle Road.
The inland port is part of a roughly $5 billion, 10-year ports expansion that adds five container berths on the coast and another berth for vehicle cargo in Brunswick.
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