Regular readers of these pages know that among this newspaper's top priorities is creating jobs, attracting investment and improving the quality of life in southern Dallas. Overall, progress has been slow, but an enormous economic engine is revving up near the confluence of Interstates 20, 45 and 35 that could radically improve the area's growth potential.

If properly nurtured, the Dallas Logistics Hub, or Inland Port, promises to generate tens of thousands of jobs, attract billions of dollars in investment and create exactly the kind of opportunities that southern Dallas needs. Thus, it is critical that no unnecessary roadblocks stand in the way of this project, which will benefit not just the city and county, but all of North Texas.

The courts can decide whether anyone was defamed amid allegations that Inland Port developer Richard Allen was targeted for a "shakedown" by southern Dallas County businessmen and politicians as he launched his 6,000-acre cargo and warehousing hub. But a thick stack of documents we've reviewed offers stout evidence that state and local politicians have slowed the port's progress. That must stop, especially given that these obstacles seem to have little to do with helping southern Dallas residents.

Allen has successfully steered his company, The Allen Group, around all but one of these challenges. One remains: a proposed 230,000-acre master plan for the port and surrounding communities that could create new development rules, environmental stipulations and other regulations scaring away investors.

This newspaper has joined Mayor Tom Leppert, the Urban Land Institute and others in supporting that master plan because of this project's unusual size and scope. Never before has a port facility attracted two of the nation's biggest railroad companies – Union Pacific and Burlington Northern-Santa Fe – to a location where three interstate highways converge. Massive quantities of cargo will transit Dallas via the Port of Houston, Panama Canal, the West Coast and Mexico.

Vast swaths of unused and underused land, once the bane of southern Dallas, are becoming its biggest asset. Urban Land Institute analyst Mike Buchanan says the Inland Port has all the ingredients "to explode exponentially" in commerce. Combined with the D/FW Alliance logistics hub, Dallas is poised to become the nation's preeminent cargo transit and warehousing center.

Planning is essential to address the strains that our highway system, water resources and air-quality levels will face. But the master plan risks becoming a tool for some interests to bury the Inland Port in bureaucracy and create uncertainty among The Allen Group's investors. So officials in Dallas and other cities have smartly shelved the master plan until tensions subside and a better planning process can be created.

The Allen Group is years ahead of local governments in planning, having spent $6 million on a detailed infrastructure map for the port. Officials of surrounding jurisdictions, including Dallas, were so impressed that they asked to incorporate this plan as a basis for the regional overview. They've given The Allen Group a green light to proceed.

Considering the enormous number of jobs and investments hanging in the balance, it makes sense that Dallas, Lancaster, Wilmer and Hutchins, along with Dallas County, are eager to cooperate with The Allen Group.

Last month, a parliamentary delegation traveled from Germany to tour the Inland Port site. A Mexican trade delegation is on its way. At least five Fortune 100 companies are in discussions to occupy up to 5 million square feet of building space at the port. Hotels, restaurants and shopping centers are springing up near the port. Bridges and roads are under construction, and highways are being modified for easier truck access. A sprawling new no-idle, eco-friendly truck stop has opened. Million-dollar homes are popping up nearby.

These are hardly the gloom-and-doom stories most North Texans would expect to hear south of the Trinity. What's clear is that a plan for success is unfolding, and it would be foolish to let politics block its progress.

Cities surrounding the Inland Port should not abandon their goal of a master plan, but they must not ask The Allen Group to slow down and wait for them. It's catch-up time, because this train (and truck) are leaving the station.