To enhance productivity for over-the-road container movement, Port Everglades has rebuilt McIntosh Road, the main roadway in the Port's Southport containerized cargo area, into a multi-lane loop road. Elected officials and Port customers celebrated the newly expanded and configured loop road today with a festive ribbon cutting ceremony.

"Efficiency counts when moving cargo. So smooth, free-flowing roadways are vital for port productivity,"said Port Everglades Chief Executive & Port Director Steven Cernak. "A more efficient flow of trucks into and out of the port is also good for the environment, since it will reduce the amount of time that trucks are idling waiting to enter the container terminals."

Traffic flow for container trucks is simplified and more efficient because designated lanes into each terminal yard are clearly marked with overhead signage and dedicated staging lanes.

The $7 million road project, partially funded by a Florida Department of Transportation grant, supported approximately 130 construction jobs.

"Our financial success and security exists amid an ever changing global, national and local environment. As we grow and change, we must work hand-in-hand, combining our collective expertise in order move forward with strength, resiliency and a commitment to excellence," Broward County Mayor Barbara Sharief told the audience of Port customers and public officials. "This project will continue to help sustain Broward County's economic stability by keeping Port Everglades the leading container port in Florida."

McIntosh Road, named for former Port Everglades Commissioner Gregory S. McIntosh, was built in the late 1980s when Crowley Liner Services was the only terminal operator in Southport, and the Port's total annual container count (called TEUs for 20-foot equivalent units) barely reached 200,000. Today, Southport is booming with more than 927,000 TEUs moved annually and a soon-to-open 43-acre rail yard owned and operated by the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC).

McIntosh Road is one of several critical expansion projects that are projected to create 7,000 new jobs regionally and support an additional 135,000 jobs statewide over the next 15 years. These key expansion projects will add up to five berths and five Super Post-Panamax cranes to an extended Southport Turning Notch, widen and deepen the channel to 48 feet (plus 1-foot required and another 1-foot allowable overdepth for a total of 50 feet) and bring freight rail into the port through a public/private partnership between Broward County and the FEC.