Strategic Location & Connectivity

Located at the geographic center of California, the MCITD enjoys a highly strategic location for business operations that require fast and reliable access to California production and consumption markets. With three access routes into the Bay Area (via the CA-99 Commercial Corridor, Interstate-5 or CA-152/Hwy 101) the MCITD provides seamless access to major markets in the Central Valley, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and San Diego/Northwest Mexico.

The site is directly served by the BNSF’s transcontinental rail line. A rail switch from the mainline allows for easy rail connectivity into the site. The mainline for the Union Pacific railroad also runs nearby to the site.

Road

The planned $200M Atwater-Merced Expressway provides direct access to CA-99 and Bay Area, Los Angeles and all Central Valley markets with no stoplights. Already $80M has been invested in a new highway interchange. Designed to accommodate a range of product testing, technology product manufacturing and distribution, the MCITD is a highly-connected supply chain asset to high-efficiency logistics infrastructure. Situated along the key CA-99 Commercial Corridor, the MCITD is engineered to provide for reliable and fast inbound and outbound logistics, supporting dynamic and high-velocity supply chains requiring very efficient access to California, North America and to global markets.

Air Cargo

The MCITD is located onsite with the tower-controlled Castle Airport which has extensive aviation support infrastructure, allowing for high-velocity cargo movements and corporate aircraft. It’s 11,800-foot runway will handle heavy cargo craft such as 747-800, 777 and A300 series freighters in uncongested air space. The site is also located less than 120 minutes away from five major airports by road including the global gateways at SFO and San Jose, and at Oakland, Sacramento and Fresno.

Freight Rail Connections to West Coast Seaports and Inland Domestic Markets

Passenger Rail Connections to the Bay Area and Los Angeles

Already with substantial commuter interactivity with the Bay Area, Merced County will increasingly become an integrated connected extension to the Bay Area. By 2019, the County will have several stations added to the Altamont Corridor Express system which will provide for direct commuter access to and from San Jose and Silicon Valley. This will allow for access to a wider skills base for MCITD businesses and allow the MCITD to be an easy extension research and supply chain activity for the tech base in the Bay Area. Further and importantly, Merced County and the MCITD site are located directly on the planned high-speed rail system that will provide fast connections between Los Angeles and San Francisco. It is anticipated that travel to San Jose would require less than 30 minutes and service to downtown Los Angeles will need about one and three quarters hours.

Ocean Transport

The MCITD is well-positioned to provide advantageous access to important West Coast seaports for container, bulk and breakbulk cargo shipments. Transport connections to the Port of Los Angeles and its extensive global route network is a quick half day truck dray. The Port of Los Angeles and Merced County have agreed to a groundbreaking Memorandum of Understanding which details how the partnership will collaborate to support the growth of the MCITD as an important West Coast inbound distribution hub and an export manufacturing center. Additionally, the Port of Oakland less than two hours away and the Port of Stockton only one hour away. All of these seaports are directly connected to the MCITD via rail service.