Patrick Donovan, executive director of the West Virginia Public Port Authority, is resigning and taking a position as director of the National Maritime Enhancement Center at Marshall University, one of four centers of its kind in the United States, The Herald-Dispatch reports. He will be an employee of the Marshall University Research Corporation and housed at the Rahall Transportation Institute.

Donovan said he would still work on intermodal projects and continue to be involved in efforts to bring an intermodal facility to Prichard, W.Va., as part of the Heartland Corridor project.

The Heartland Corridor project is a combined effort of Norfolk Southern railroad and West Virginia, as well as the states of Virginia and Ohio and the federal government. It involves the transport of goods in double-stacked containers from the Virginia Coast to Columbus, cutting transit time for shipments. As part of the project, the railway and the state would like to build an intermodal facility at Prichard, which could serve as a place to move containers to and from the trains to the roadways, as well as the nearby Tri-State Airport and the Big Sandy River, which connects to the Ohio River.

It's a project that's been in the works for a decade but has yet to come to fruition, and in which Donovan has been heavily involved. He said he will continue to work on that project, and, as it stands now, documents have been signed so that the project can be put out to bid. Site prep construction, as well as building a bridge to the future site of the facility and building an access road, likely would begin in the spring, with a total of $15 million from the Port Authority, the Federal Highways Administration and the Division of Highways.

Road construction along U.S. 52 that is going on concurrently will provide some extra fill dirt needed for the intermodal facility site, which will save a good deal of state money, Donovan said last week, when the Heartland Corridor's opening was celebrated in Prichard.

"The Prichard intermodal facility is well on its way to being done and (Donovan's change in position), at no point, will hinder that," Plymale said.

About his new line of work, he said he's excited that he can extend his efforts beyond state lines now, and about the unique, regional role that the Maritime Enhancement Center plays being one of only four centers of its kind in the country. The center focuses on navigation issues related to economic development, Donovan said. Among its aims is to keep the environmental quality of the river in balance with industry standards, he said.

With its position on the Ohio River, Huntington is the nation's largest inland port, and its eighth largest port overall. He said the position, which has been vacant, has been expanded to include intermodal capabilities, as well as maritime issues such as waterway navigation.