DOT selects marine highway projects
The U.S. Department of Transportation on Wednesday designated several coastal areas and inland waterways as “marine highway corridors,” and named eight projects that would operate along them as eligible to immediately compete for $7 million in funds.
It said those eight projects and another six more nascent initiatives would be eligible for other federal assistance under its marine highway program.
The Department's Maritime Administration chose the projects and initiatives from 35 applications submitted by ports and local transportation agencies.
'Making better use of our rivers and coastal routes offers an intelligent way to relieve some of the biggest challenges we face in transportation — congestion on our roads, climate change, fossil fuel energy use and soaring road maintenance costs,' said LaHood. 'There is no better time for us to improve the use of our rivers and coasts for transportation.' He said DOT has spent $58 million to date to support the start-up or expansion of Marine Highways services.
DOT selected corridors along the West, East and Gulf coasts, the Great Lakes and many of America's inland waterways. They were given numbers much like interstate highways. The new M-5, M-10, and M-95, for example, roughly parallel the coastal highways I-5, I-10, and I-95. There are 11 such corridors, as well as four “connectors” that it sees as feeder routes to the corridors, and three “crossings” which are short routes across harbors or waterways that are alternatives to much longer or less convenient land routes.
There is an extensive description of the corridors, crossings, and connectors as well as the projects and initiatives here.
MarAd said it will assist the eight project sponsors in developing marine transportation services and with identifying potential freight and passenger markets. They are also eligible to compete for future Marine Highway federal funding, including $7 million in initial funding being made available Wednesday.
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'These projects will help make better use of America's Marine Highway by reducing gridlock, improving the environment, and putting skilled mariners and shipbuilders to work,' said David Matsuda, Maritime Administrator.
The selected projects are:
' The Cross Sound Enhancements Project to improve ferry capacity and reduce environmental impacts by upgrades to three passenger vehicle/ferries operating between New London, Conn., and Orient Point in Long Island, N.Y.
' The New England Marine Highway Expansion Project to expand an existing container-on-barge service operating between Newark, N.J.; Boston; and Portland, Maine. Service capacity and reliability would be improved by the addition of a more seaworthy vessel in the service.
' The Cross Gulf Container Expansion to extend SeaBridge’s container-on-barge operation by increasing the frequency and capacity of the service between Brownsville, Texas, and Port Manatee, Fla., across the Gulf of Mexico.
' The Tenn-Tom Waterway Pilot Project involves a new container-on-barge service between the Port of Itawamba, Miss., on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway and the Port of Mobile, Ala., to function as the inland leg of a new route between deep draft Gulf Coast container terminals and manufacturing centers near Port Itawamba.
' The Gulf Atlantic Marine Highway Project is intended to transport containerized freight between Gulf, Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic coastal ports on a modern fleet of U.S.-flag vessels.
' The Detroit-Wayne County Ferry would develop a cross-border passenger service between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, Canada, focusing on transporting commuters.
' The Trans-Hudson Rail Service proposes to expand the quality and capacity of an ongoing cross-harbor rail float service operating between the Greenville Rail Terminal in Jersey City, N.J., and Brooklyn, N.Y.
' The James River Container Expansion would expand the James River Barge Line, 64 Express, container-on-barge service between Hampton Roads and Richmond, Va., by increasing frequency of service and starting a new inter-terminal barge service in Hampton Roads.
The six initiatives that MarAd said were “not developed to the point of proposing specific services and routes,” but “offer promise of potential in the future are the:
' The Hudson River Food Corridor Initiative, which will evaluate the feasibility of an alternate means of water transport of fresh produce from agricultural regions in North-Central New York near the Hudson River and Long Island to the New York-Newark Metropolitan Area.
' The New Jersey Marine Highway Initiative, which will assess the feasibility and opportunities to develop a network of Marine Highway services within New Jersey and between New Jersey and ports in New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maryland and Virginia.
' The East Coast Marine Highway Initiative, which proposes to develop a service using a fleet of existing and newbuild U.S.-flag vessels to transport international containers and trailers to destinations along the I-95 Corridor. The initiative includes the ports of New Bedford, Mass.; Baltimore; and Canaveral, Fla., with others to be added where feasible.
' The West Coast Hub-Feeder Initiative, which will examine the feasibility of an intermodal distribution network served by a Marine Highway service along the coastlines of the states of Washington, Oregon and California.
' The Golden State Marine Highway Initiative, which is a joint effort by four California ports to improve the efficiency of freight movement by developing a service linking California's ports to form a 1,100-mile Marine Highway along the West Coast.
' The Illinois-Gulf Marine Highway Initiative which will examine opportunities for a Marine Highway service to support Midwest industrial production and operating between U.S. Gulf Coast seaports and Peoria, Ill., via the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers.