Six interstate highways. Six Class I railroads. Four public barge ports. More than 180 private river terminals. Two international cargo airports. Three regional airports. Ten major product-distribution parks. Dozens of smaller industrial and business parks.

What do all these things have in common? They're considered "assets" in a campaign to make the St. Louis region an "epicenter" of freight transportation in the Midwest.

"There is great potential, and Southwestern Illinois has even more to gain than St. Louis," said Dennis Wilmsmeyer, executive director of America's Central Port in Granite City.