Go north and enjoy The Big Thicket National Preserve and Village Creek State Park – or keep driving until you hit the popular weekend destinations – Sam Rayburn Reservoir or Toledo Bend Reservoir! Go south to the Gulf of Mexico beaches, fishing and boating. The ferry to Galveston Island is just an hour away. From there, catch a cruise to the Caribbean! Go west to Houston, and enjoy the sights and sounds of the fourth-largest metropolis in the nation; or Go east across the Louisiana border to any number of sparkling casinos! As our Cajun friends say, “Laissez les bon temps rouler! Let the good times roll!”

With all these options, perhaps it’s best to make a stop at the Ben J. Rogers Regional Visitor Center, the only center of its kind in Texas. Located along I-10 on Beaumont’s west edge near Ford Park, it is a collaboration of nine Texas counties – Jefferson, Orange, Chambers, Liberty, Tyler, Hardin, Jasper, Newton, and the Bolivar Peninsula section of Galveston County.

Rail

Amtrack also makes a stop in Beaumont as part of its historic train line, the Sunset Limited. Currently running from New Orleans to Los Angeles by way of Houston and San Antonio, you can catch the train coming or going six days a week. With increased attention given to alternative transportation methods, the region included rail as part of their long-range strategic transportation solutions.

Airports

To complement the billions in industrial expansions happening in the greater Beaumont area, the Southeast Texas Regional Airport has a $7 million renovation underway.

Airport service includes daily commercial flights to Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston and access to direct worldwide connections. The airport also accommodates a growing number of corporate jets that arrive and depart the region daily.

Waterways

Port of Beaumont 

Beaumont lies on the banks of the Sabine-Neches ship channel, the nation’s third-largest waterway and America’s energy gateway, linking the world to an extensive pipeline system that supplies energy to communities and businesses across the country. Each year, more than 120 million tons of cargo pass through more than 60 public and private terminals along its banks. Currently the largest crude oil import port in the U.S. – more than 74 million tons are imported annually – soon the waterway will also become the top LNG terminal in the nation. By 2010, three new facilities will make this region home to 40 percent of the nation’s LNG regasification operations. The ship channel also supports 55 percent of the nation’s strategic oil reserves and America’s largest refining complex that produces 11 percent of U.S. gasoline and 60 percent of the nation’s jet fuel.

With such a prominent role in the national and global economies, its no wonder the Sabine-Neches Waterway is the Beaumont area’s economic linchpin. Nearly 84,000 jobs across Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana are related in some way to the cargo moving on the waterway, which translates to $4.7 billion of direct, induced and indirect personal wages, salaries and consumption expenditures. In fact, in 2007 the waterway supported 14,983 direct jobs – meaning those who provide support services to the waterway, including marine terminals and shipyards, truckers, railroad workers, warehouse operators, and marine construction firms. Direct jobs alone generate nearly $900 million in wages and salaries per year and offer an average annual salary over $58,000.

Excluding the value of cargo, $2.4 billion of revenue is generated along the Sabine-Neches waterway each year. Understanding the vital function of the waterway for continued economic growth, The Greater Beaumont Chamber has taken a leadership role in advocating for the Sabine-Neches Waterway deepening and widening project.

Currently, the 64-mile Sabine-Neches Waterway is dredged to a depth of 40 feet and width of 400 feet. While this is standard depth for many ship channels, a deeper channel would better accommodate the mega-tankers and colossal freighters in high demand. Such ships can currently only be partially filled, since the additional tonnage would result in them riding too low in the water to be able to navigate the channel. The deepening and widening project would increase the depth of the ship channel to 48 feet and widen certain locations to 700 feet – dimensions large enough to allow these ships to operate at full capacity and thus lower shipping costs.

As a federal waterway, such a project requires congressional approval. The Greater Beaumont Chamber has joined the Sabine-Neches Navigation District and others to actively lobby for this project in Washington. Thanks to these efforts, support of this monumental and economically crucial project is rapidly increasing and the project is likely to be included in an upcoming Water Resources and Development Act.

Playing a lead role in the success of the Sabine-Neches waterway is the Port of Beaumont, located in the Downtown District on the shores of the Neches River. Lifted by record tonnage and revenues, in 2007 the port initiated a $52 million capital improvement project. Unprecedented in scope, the project increases productivity, enhances security, and improves the port’s relationship with the U.S, military, the railroads, and the City of Beaumont.

Featured in this project is a 455-acre expansion across the river into Orange County that includes a new general cargo wharf, ten acres specifically designated for pipe storage to accommodate the expanding industrial infrastructure, and a 320-car increase in the port’s railcar storage capacity.

The Port of Beaumont is the number 1 military port in the U.S., transporting 48 percent of supplies for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. More than 150 ships and 1.4 million tons of cargo have gone through Beaumont since 2002. Acknowledging the vital role the military plays, the port is building a new $5.4 million, 2,700-square-foot building that will serve as headquarters for the 842nd Transportation Battalion, just one reason the entire Beaumont community is very military and veteran-friendly.

The port’s expansion has positive effects on the entire community. The relocation of railcar storage across the river frees up key riverfront acreage for future use by the City of Beaumont in its ambitious downtown redevelopment project (See Rich with Downtown Redevelopment on page 26).

The port transports more than just petroleum. Beaumont is important in advancing alternative energy sources, including both wind energy and bioenergy. Immense turbines and fan blades regularly stretch across multiple rail cars departing the port as they make their way to the wind farms in west Texas and the Great Plains. Additionally, the BioEnergy Alliance for Southeast Texas, built of public sector organizations, government, chambers of commerce, university and research institutions and Fortune 100 private sector companies is led by the Greater Beaumont Chamber President Jim Rich. Their mission is to leverage and provide assistance and efficient access to key resources in the community in order to encourage public and private bioenergy investment in the region. These efforts, as well as the shiploads of grain, potash and forest products that pass through the port, ensure the economic security of Beaumont no matter what the future brings.

Port of Orange

The Port of Orange is located on IH-10 less than 100 miles east of Houston, Tx. Our Industrial Park has water frontage property available for development that is located on the Intercoastal Canal and Sabine River. This waterfront Park is excellent for intermodal development considering convenient access to IH-10 and Union Pacific Rail. The Port of Orange is able to handle any type of break-bulk general cargo and heavy lift cargo to or from barges or deep sea vessels. The Port offers competitive rates for long and short term layberthing for ocean vessels along with barge fleeting service. With over 3,500 feet of harbor space, 2,300 feet of dock apron and 354,400 square feet of warehouses, the Port of Orange, is a "Big small port", that can serve your every need.