FAQS

The Logistics Park Phoenix project encompasses approximately 4,321 acres located in northwest Maricopa County between the cities of Surprise and Morristown. The site is generally bounded by 211th Avenue to the east, undeveloped Arizona State Trust Land and State Route 74 to the north, the 235th Avenue alignment to the west, and US-60/Grand Avenue to the southwest. The 5,500-acre former Chrysler Proving Grounds is located to the east across 211th Avenue.

Given its location along US-60, a major highway with existing adjacent rail access, the Overall Site is well positioned to accommodate a regional-scale intermodal facility and logistics hub. The site also has convenient vehicular access via US-60 to SR 303, and to State Route 74 via the 211th Avenue alignment, which in turn provides easy access to the greater regional and interstate transportation network.

The Northwest Valley is one of the fastest growing regions of Maricopa County with access to roads and land available for development. The proposed project is adjacent to the BNSF rail line along the U.S. 60 – Grand Avenue as many know it. The Northwest Valley is a thriving area, transforming itself from a collection of bedroom communities to a hub of commerce and innovation. BNSF has long been a part of the Northwest Valley and chose to expand operations here because of its access to a workforce.

BNSF is working to expand their domestic inland intermodal capacity where population, development, and goods consumption are growing the fastest.  BNSF has long-anticipated rapid growth in the Phoenix submarket and began the initial plans for the intermodal facility when they acquired the first 720 acres of the Overall Site in 2004.  Following the exponential growth the Phoenix Metro area has experienced over the past two decades, BNSF invested additional capital to acquire an additional 3,500 acres in 2022.  BNSF views Arizona as an important region to expand and advance its intermodal network capacity and LPP as a long-term investment and commitment to its customers and consumers in Arizona.

The development will be comprised of three distinct yet interrelated components including the Intermodal Facility on 1,770 acres, which is a transfer hub for rail shipments via standardized containers and trailers; the Logistics Park on 1,420 acres, which will provide sites for state-of-the-art warehouse and distribution facilities; and the Logistics Center on 1,131 acres, which will provide direct-rail-served sites supporting local industry.

• Intermodal Facility: The IMF (1,775 acres) serves as a rail terminal where trailer and containerized freight is transferred between rail and truck. Containers and trailers will arrive at the IMF via rail or truck and will be distributed within the Development or shipped off-site to continue moving through the supply chain.

  The IMF will consist of a series of parallel “strip tracks” for handling of intermodal freight. Once spotted on the strip tracks, rail cars will be ramped and de-ramped with lift hoist containers on and off the rail cars. The IMF will also include organized container parking and stacking areas to stage for facility departure whether via truck or rail.

• Logistics Park: The LP consists of approximately 1,425 acres located between the IMF to the north and the LC to the south. The LP will provide national and regional companies with state-of-the-art distribution and warehouse capacity adjacent to the IMF. The LP has been designed to provide needed flexibility and adequate capacity to support BNSF’s growing customer base.

  From an operations perspective, the LP will function like a typical industrial park where customers lease buildings or suites to accommodate their manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution needs. The LP is planned to have enough capacity to comfortably accommodate up to eighteen million square feet of leasable space at full buildout. Transportation costs represent a significant portion of distribution and logistics expenses for businesses, and co-locating at the LP provides valuable cost savings and improves supply chain efficiency for BNSF’s customers by providing direct and convenient access to BNSF’s intermodal capacity.

  In addition to the financial benefits, there are also environmental benefits associated with co-location, including a meaningful reduction in the number of truck miles driven, which reduces carbon emissions and utilizes less fossil fuel.

• Logistics Center: Compared to the standard industrial park environment, the LC will offer a greater degree of rail service flexibility for BNSF customers by connecting them to shovel ready, rail served parcels. BNSF will actively manage the multi-customer, multi-commodity development, which is designed to accommodate both manifest mixed freight and unit train single commodity customers.

  The LC will provide additional flexibility to accommodate the storage and shipment of a variety of bulk commodities such as steel products, aggregates, agricultural products, pipe, and liquids to support the needs of the local economy, providing value to businesses by utilizing BNSF’s facilities and expertise to grow their business and rail operations in the expanding Phoenix region.

  Locating at a BNSF LC increases speed to market allowing customers to reach new markets faster and more efficiently. Buildings within the LC are anticipated to be smaller than those within the LP and will be tailored to meet the needs of specific end users.

BNSF hopes to clear all aspects of the project review and begin work on the project in late 2025, with initial operations anticipated to commence in 2028.

With growth coming to the region, the best way to manage growing needs for transporting goods and materials is to rely on rail as much as possible.  Rail is the most efficient means of surface transportation and every train takes a hundred or more trucks off the roads.  The LPP substantially reduces truck traffic and train crossings throughout the Valley. 

Currently, all intermodal traffic moving on BNSF goes through the Glendale IMF.  The Glendale capacity is not unlimited and it will, at some point, reach its maximum.  If LPP were not to be built, future containerized traffic growth above Glendale IMF’s capacity would be diverted to other local and regional hubs and then trucked into Phoenix or be transported into the Phoenix entirely via truck.

Alternatively, the proposed LPP would be able to handle all Glendale containerized traffic, as well as future growth starting in 2028. Moreover, intermodal trains utilizing Glendale (currently 3.1 trains per day) would, rather than transiting the BNSF line through most densely populated and traffic-impacted metropolitan portions of Phoenix, instead travel along BNSF’s mainline well to the north of Maricopa County and then turn south from Flagstaff to the LPP.

Shifting the balance of future growth in intermodal traffic from truck to train significantly reduces the number of vehicle miles travelled, roadway congestion in the region, and the safety risks for motorists. Fewer truck miles on regional roadways will also reduce costs associated with road maintenance. Reducing truck miles also reduces emissions.