Infrastructure
Since its founding in 1733, Georgia has led the region in developing every mode of transportation. Today, the state offers an unmatched transportation network, ensuring Georgia's industries timely and cost-effective means of transporting goods.
Air Transportation
As one of the nation’s busiest airports for both passengers and aircraft,
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the center of air transportation in Georgia. Hartsfield-Jackson is a global gateway, offering nonstop service to more than 150 domestic and 70 international destinations. These locales include major commercial centers in Europe, Asia, the Caribbean, Africa, and South and Central America. The airport also holds the distinction of being the first in the world to serve more than 100 million passengers in a single year. In fact, Hartsfield-Jackson is two hours or less from:
- 80 percent of the U.S. population
- 79 percent of the nation’s 150 largest metropolitan areas
Of course, Hartsfield-Jackson isn’t the state’s only airport. Georgia has 104 public-use airports that allow companies and their corporate jets to efficiently travel throughout the State.
There are eight other commercial airports in Albany, Augusta, Brunswick, Columbus, Savannah and Valdosta. In addition to its own airports, Georgia also is served by airports in adjacent states, including Chattanooga, Tennessee.; Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina; Jacksonville and Tallahassee, Florida; and Birmingham, Alabama.
Ground Transportation
Georgia has 1,244 miles of interstate roads, 18,000 miles of state highways and 102,653 miles of public and well-maintained roads.
According to federal data and
private surveys, Georgia has the best-maintained roads in the country, a particularly impressive statistic when you consider that Georgia imposes the lowest gasoline tax of any state. Plus, the state’s mild climate means roads rarely are affected by adverse weather.
Two of the nation’s leading and class 1 rail systems,
CSX Transportation and
Norfolk Southern, provide Georgia's industries with a 3,500-mile network of track. Twenty-one smaller independent railroads provide another 1,300 miles, producing the Southeast’s most extensive rail system. Many of these systems have developed their intermodal capabilities, providing the convenience and economy of rail shipping to all communities and industries, with or without direct rail access.
Sea Transportation
Georgia’s deepwater ports in Savannah and Brunswick lead the Southeast in technology and volume. Both are managed by the
Georgia Ports Authority, which operates as a state authority, with a thirteen member board.
Five-hundred feet wide and nearing 50 feet deep, the
Port of Savannah offers two primary terminals: Garden City Terminal, a 1,200-acre campus with one of the most modern and efficient container-handling facilities in the world, and the downtown Ocean Terminal. Together, the two terminals are used by 27 carriers and serve 120 ports in 61 countries around the world. The port also features a 1,190-acre Foreign Trade Zone where users can delay, reduce and sometimes eliminate import duties.
The port has two “on terminal” railroads in CSX and Norfolk Southern. The port also has 3 million square feet of warehouse space available within 30 miles of the port and is the second-busiest U.S. container exporter in the nation.
The Port of Savannah continues to undergo expansion under the “Savannah Harbor Expansion Project,” which will allow the port to more efficiently serve larger New Panamax Vessels.
The
Port of Brunswick has three terminals tailored to the needs of break-bulk, agri-bulk and Ro-Ro cargoes: the Colonel’s Island facility, the Mayor’s Point Terminal and the Marine Port Terminal. Like the Port of Savannah, all Port of Brunswick terminals have rail service provided by CSX.
