US awards $2.7B to fortify ports, waterways

Dive Brief:

The Biden administration awarded $2.7 billion in funding from the bipartisan infrastructure law to hundreds of projects meant to strengthen U.S. ports and waterways, the administration announced Tuesday.
The money for projects in Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Oklahoma, California, Colorado, Texas and elsewhere will improve supply chain resiliency in the face of more frequent floods, landslides and other climate challenges, according to a fact sheet.
The latest funding brings the U.S.'s total infrastructure and supplemental spending to nearly $17 billion in more than 800 projects across 55 states and territories in FY2022 and FY2023, according to the administration.

Infrastructure funding awards around the country

A look at where some of the money from the bipartisan funding is headed

Dive Insight:

President Joe Biden's bipartisan infrastructure deal included an estimated $17 billion for ports and waterways. Upgrades became a key priority after a pandemic, inflation and other disruptions walloped supply chains and laid bare their inadequacies.

The $2.7 billion in funding awards for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects will go towards deepening and widening shipping channels, flood risk reduction efforts and habitat restorations from California to Virginia.

U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine and Reps. Bobby Scott and Elaine Luria issued a joint statement applauding the investments in the Norfolk Harbor widening and deepening project and storm risk management projects in the City of Norfolk and coastal Virginia Beach.

"This funding will advance key infrastructure projects in the region that will invest in the Port of Virginia, boost the local economy, create good-paying jobs, and preserve Virginia's status as a leader in maritime trade and defense," the Democratic lawmakers said in the statement.

The announcement followed the release of the White House's $5.8 trillion fiscal 2023 budget, which proposes billions more in funding for highways, ports, domestic manufacturing and other supply chain infrastructure. Congress must approve and appropriate the federal spending.

By the numbers

Infrastructure funding highlights for port and waterway projects

$350M

To reduce flood risk and restore aquatic ecosystems along the Weir Gulch and Harvard Gulch in Adams and Denver County, Colorado, and restore riparian habitats along the South Platte River

$115M

To support the Southwest Coastal Louisiana Hurricane Protection project in Cameron, Calcasieu and Vermilion parishes in Louisiana

$92.6M

To upgrade the locks of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System, a series of 18 locks and dams that allow barges to maneuver a 420-foot change in elevation on a 445-mile waterway connecting the Tulsa Port of Catoosa to the Gulf of Mexico

$77M

To build new lock chambers at the Emsworth Locks and Dams in Pittsburgh

$72M

To widen and deepen the Norfolk Harbor shipping channel in Virginia

$68M

To deepen the Brazos Island Harbor Channel for the Port of Brownsville in Texas

$67M

To reduce flood risk in the City of Watsonville, Town of Pajaro, California and surrounding farmlands

$11M

To deepen part of the Galveston Harbor Channel for the Port of Galveston in Texas

$2.2M

For engineering and design to protect and restore nearly 1,000 acres of aquatic and riparian habitat in Espanola Valley, Rio Grande and Tributaries, New Mexico