Biden-Harris Administration Announces Historic Investment to America’s Port and Waterway Infrastructure

The US Army Corps of Engineers has received $4bn in funding through the new Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for fiscal year 2022 investments to improve ports and waterways.

The funds will enable the Army Corps to initiate projects to expand capacity at key ports, allow passage of larger vessels, and further enhance the country’s ability to move goods. These waterside investments will complement already-announced landside investments at ports and across the goods movement chain.

The $4bn includes $858m to support the replacement of locks that keep water levels high enough for large cargo ships to pass through the upper Ohio River, west of Pittsburgh, as well as more than $470m to complete construction of a new lock along St. Mary’s River in Sault Saint Marie, Michigan, which serves as a passageway for nearly all domestically produced iron ore.

An $8m investment will improve commercial navigation and allow larger and more ships to pass at the Port of Long Beach, California – part of the nation’s largest port complex. The investment will support design work to widen the port’s main channel, deepen the entrance channel, and build an approach channel and turning basin.

At Norfolk Harbor, Virginia, which handled 67% more containers in 2021 than it did 10 years ago, an investment of $69m will deepen and widen the harbor’s shipping channels to improve navigation and enable safer access for larger commercial and naval vessels.

To read the full White House Fact Sheet on this topic, click here.

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