DOT announces corridors for marine highway program
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration has chosen to designate 14 corridors under its new America’s Marine Highways program and announced construction projects related to eight of them and various other initiatives for the other six. The eight projects are eligible to apply by the end of the month for a share of $7 million available for funding.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the America’s program four months ago, saying it would relieve congested highways.
LaHood repeated those sentiments in annoucing the corridors, projects and initiatives. “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,” LaHood said Aug. 11.
The eight corridors selected for construction projects are:
In addition to the America’s Marine Highways project designations, Secretary LaHood also identified six initiatives eligible to apply for federal funding for further development of concepts:
To date, the Department has awarded $58 million in grants for projects to support the start-up or expansion of Marine Highways services.
