The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) has selected 20 projects to receive USD900 million in grant funding – three of which are port related – under the Nationally Significant Freight and Highway Projects Program (INFRA).
The projects have been sent to Congress for approval. USD125 million has been allocated to the Maryland Department of Transportation for Baltimore’s Howard Street railroad (CSX Transportation) tunnel. This will enable double stacking of shipping containers to and from the port of Baltimore.
USD9.02 million has been set aside to replace a dilapidated bulkhead at the Cuyahoga River ship channel; Port Miami will use an USD8.04 million grant for its Seaboard Marine Terminal rehabilitation and expansion project.
Two other INFRA grants will go to projects that will help alleviate traffic congestion and improve freight movement. One is a USD125 million award to the Alabama Department of Transportation for the construction of a six-lane, cable-stayed bridge across the Mobile River channel near the port of Mobile.
Secondly, USD10.516 million will be invested by Southeast Arkansas Economic Development District to rehabilitate a 91.3 mile (147 km) stretch of railway between McGehee, Arkansas and Tallulah, Louisiana.
American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) president and ceo, Kurt Nagle, welcomed the investments: “The INFRA programme is a tool that ports must fully utilise for our freight network and supply chain to operate efficiently.
"While many maritime projects are complex and need multimodal funding tools to build them, there are plenty of highway corridor and first/last mile projects in need of federal funding.”
www.aapa-ports.org
