KSC has more than 50 years of experience transporting people and cargo outside Earth’s atmosphere. One of the key factors in the center’s role as a launch center is the transportation infrastructure, which is one of the most unique systems in the world, incorporating five modes of transportation:

Roads – Highway and roadway system providing connectivity to the external highway network

Rail – Connectivity to state and national railway systems

Air – Airfield and related flightline facilities to accommodate a range of aircraft

Sea – Proximity and relationship to waterways that connect to ocean transportation

Space – Vertical and horizontal launch and landing capacity to accommodate a range of existing and future space vehicles

This quinti-modal network was designed to support multiple NASA programmatic operations. In combination with the KSC team’s space transportation experience, it provides KSC partners and customers with a comprehensive set of options to support any operation, and sets KSC apart from any other spaceport in the world.

KSC’s quinti-modal transportation system is an integral component of Florida’s Strategic Intermodal System (SIS), which integrates individual facilities, services, forms of transportation (modes) and linkages into a single, integrated transportation network.

Strategic Intermodal System: 

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) maintains a list of the state’s largest and most important transportation facilities that serve vital or inter-regional functions for the movement of people and goods.

As described by FDOT, the SIS:

• Is made up of facilities and services of statewide and interregional significance (strategic).
• Contains all forms of transportation for moving both people and goods, including linkages that provide for smooth and efficient transfers between modes and major facilities (intermodal).
• Integrates individual facilities, services, forms of transportation (modes) and linkages into a single, integrated transportation network (system).

Within the SIS, facilities are designated a Corridor, Hub, Connector, Military Access, or Intermodal Logistics Center. These transportation facilities include the highest priority (and best funded) highways, airports, seaports, freight terminals, rail lines and public transit terminals.

The SIS has its own 25-year horizon Capital Improvements Plan (CIP) maintained by FDOT. The CIP is composed of a First Five Year Plan (years 1-5), a Second Five Year Plan (years 6-10) and a Cost Feasible Plan (years 11-25). The CIP serves as the driving force for major infrastructure funding in Florida as all projects that are planned for SIS facilities must have dedicated funding sources and anticipated schedule.

KSC, along with the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), is designated as a SIS Spaceport Hub. This designation provides a path for FDOT to dedicate resources to transportation infrastructure that supports the viability of the Spaceport Hub in the future.

In addition to its own designation in the SIS Plan, several facilities adjacent to KSC are also SIS facilities.

Corridors:

• Interstate 95
• SR 528
• Florida East Coast Railroad
• Intra-coastal Waterway
• Shipping Lane from Port Canaveral

Hubs:

• Port Canaveral

Connectors:

• SR 405 (up to the boundary of KSC) linking the Spaceport to I-95
• SR 401 linking SR 528 with Port Canaveral and the southern security gate of CCAFS
• Jay Jay Railroad Bridge connecting the Florida East Coast Railroad to the KSC spur line
• Canaveral Barge Canal connecting the Atlantic Ocean and Intracoastal Waterway via Port Canaveral