The Greater Gallup Economic Development Corporation hosted its Fall 2024 Economic Roundtable on Oct. 29 in the McKinley County Courthouse Annex conference room. Titled “Moving Forward on the TradePort Project in Gallup/McKinley County," this was the first of two roundtables GGEDC has planned for Fiscal Year 2025 and the third roundtable to focus on designing and developing a regional TradePort in Gallup.
The meeting of 41 people included City of Gallup Council and staff members, representatives from McKinley County government, the New Mexico Department of Transportation, NM Environment Department, GGEDC staff, and expert consultants contracted by McKinley County to research and design the regional TradePort. The purpose of the roundtable was to strategize and collaborate the next steps of developing the TradePort in Gallup with plans underway for a TradePort Master Plan, Autonomous Vehicles Test Track, a hydrogen/multifuel hub, and a Foreign Trade Zone/User Fee Airport.
Patty Lundstrom, Executive Director of GGEDC, explained how the roundtable provided an excellent opportunity to help the participants realize the full scope and extent of the projects GGEDC has been working on jointly with the city, county and the State of New Mexico to lay the foundations for the regional inland TradePort. To help the audience grasp the full scope and extent of the Gallup/McKinley County TradePort Initiative, Lundstrom referenced a chart detailing the 23 impactful activities GGEDC has undertaken since 2023 to support the various projects, the 17 mostly New Mexican companies consulted for their input, and 10 site tours undertaken by members of the Inland Port Steering Committee to learn how similar projects and sites function.
According to Lundstrom, the chart represented “the field of play of all of our initiatives."
“We don’t jump into projects we don’t understand," Lundstrom said. “While the economic fortunes around us have changed a lot, GGEDC has kept its focus, been responsive to the changes, and continued to move forward on the strategic economic development priorities for the Greater Gallup region.”
Following presentations by consultants from Kimley-Horn, Martin Associates and Hatch Consultants, the consultants engaged in in-depth discussions with the other roundtable participants on the various projects. Goals for the roundtable included building understanding among the participants of the various initiatives and projects underway and the interconnections between them and generating preliminary ideas for legislative, regulatory and funding proposals that could eventually be presented to the New Mexico Legislature as well as potential investors and grantors.
