The Northland joins the Kansas City region in seeing its transportation strengths exploited by firms looking for a distribution advantage.

In an August 2003 study, Kansas City ranked third in a national comparison of distribution costs for major cities. The study, which examined each city's transportation infrastructure, work force and operating costs, found significant value in Kansas City's combination of highway, rail and air infrastructure combined with factors such as the local workforce.

As with other measurements, the Northland ranks high in the Kansas City market. In fact, the Northland may offer the best transportation and infrastructure amenities to be found in metro-politan Kansas City.

Start with air travel. Kansas City International Airport sprawls across more than 10,000 acres in Platte County. With three domestic terminals, KCI was designed to serve 12 million passengers annually. Already labeled the world's most people-friendly airport, KCI is undergoing major terminal improvement that will be completed in 2004. The $183 million project is the biggest public improvement effort in the history of the Kansas City metropolitan area. All three terminals have been stripped for a complete transformation.

The Northland is host to two other major airports. The second is also operated by the city of Kansas City: Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport.

The city's original air facility, Downtown Airport began in the heyday of Trans World Airline and millionaire Howard Hughes and continues to fill a vital commercial, charter and training role enhanced by its location adjacent to downtown. The newest air facility is Clay County Regional Airport. Located between Liberty and Excelsior Springs, the airport re-opened this fall with its main runway extended to 5,500 feet and other improvements as part of a $6.1 million effort. The airport can now handle corporate jets and cargo craft.

Clay and Platte Counties also benefit from significant rail and highway facilities as well as intermodal facilities to connect the two.

The rail connection is an old one. The area that is now North Kansas City got its start because of the first rail line to cross the Missouri River and reach Kansas City. Since that event after the Civil War, the Northland has continued to grow major rail facilities throughout Clay and Platte counties. Everything from Wyoming coal to Ford trucks and cars go in and out of the area on the Northland's section of a rail network that is the nation's second-largest, second only to Chicago.

Despite these two leading trans- portation networks, the area's best offerings may be its highways. With four interstate highways and double that number in major state and federal routes, the Northland offers rapid road access to virtually any location in the nation.

The interstates are the most visible. The "NAFTA Super Highway" I-35 is the first, slicing diagonally from downtown Kansas City then northeast through Clay County. On the west, I-29 splits off I-35 near North Kansas City and travels through Platte County to KCI then north to St. Joseph and eventually Nebraska. Key metro-politan connections are added with Kansas City's beltway, I-435, and I-635, which provides a direct link from the Northland at Riverside to Wyandotte and Johnson County, Kan.

The major freeways are easily accessible throughout the North-land because of smaller state and federal highways. One of the most strategic is Highway 152, which runs east and west through the Northland's midsection, connecting Liberty with the growing Barry Road retail area at I-29 in Platte County. Highway 169 provides another four-lane thoroughfare, knifing almost due north from downtown Kansas City, past Metro North shopping center then to the city of Smithville and Smithville Lake.

Water travel is a unique option for the area. Clay and Platte counties boast more "coastline" on the Missouri River than any other area in the region. With more than three dozen docks and terminals in metro Kansas City, this waterway provides shipping for a wide range of products, including raw materials for area manufacturers.