JAMESVILLE, N.Y. -- Plans are still in the preliminary phase, but it if was up to some Central New York leaders, an inland port would be built on a former mining property in the Jamesville area.

The CenterState Inland Port is part of the CNY Rising proposal announced Tuesday, as leaders hope to secure $500 million in state funding to help revitalize the region.

An inland port is a transportation hub used to carry cargo to and from the area. In this region, it would be by rail and utilize the Port of New York and New Jersey.

"We have a site; we have a railroad that is an eager and willing partner. We have a port operator and we have a huge amount of private sector interest in that site," said CenterState CEO Rob Simpson.

Simpson said the project already has $40 million from the governor's 2015 budget and they have applied for a $20 million TIGER Grant. As part of the CNY Rising proposal, they're asking for another $40 million to be invested over five years. Port of Oswego would operate it and its CEO said this area would see a return on this investment in a number of ways including the creation of nearly 2,000 jobs.

"A crane operator, we're talking about a heavy equipment operator. We're talking about some guy locating the stuff on a GPS; all trainable," said Zelko Kirincich, Port of Oswego Executive Director and CEO.

Kirincich said this project is in response to Panama Canal growth which is expected to increase traffic on ports. He said Central New York is an ideal location.

"Highway infrastructure, the proximity to a populous area for labor and frankly, there's a lot of manufacturing here. There are a lot of exporters here," said Kirincich.

Bitzer Scroll in Syracuse makes scroll compressors for commercial air conditioning.  They currently rely on trucks to transport their goods, but say an inland port would make things easier and more efficient.

"Typically when we ship product overseas the container has to come from the port, so an empty container gets driven to our plant, we load it with our compressor and it has to go all the way back down to the port to get on to a ship," said Jim Cullen, Bitzer Scroll Product Management Director.

Cullen and Kirincich agree utilizing nearby rail would reduce the amount of traffic on highways. Additionally, Kirincich said depending on the volume rail could save manufacturers 40 to 50 percent because rail is more efficient. He's confident in the proposal and hopes the state sees the potential. If not he said he'll continue his pursuits but it just may take longer.

The first scoping meeting for CenterState Inland Port will take place 7 p.m. on Oct. 13 at Jamesville Elementary School, E Seneca Turnpike, Jamesville.