The Obama administration announced earlier this month that it will fast-track infrastructure projects at five East Coast ports, including two projects for Jacksonville Ports.
The White House will expedite a feasibility study on deepening Jacksonville’s ship channel, which will carve a year off the original timeline.
According to the Florida Times Union, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had previously said it expected to complete the study in 2014. The administration moved that up to April 2013, with $1.4 million in the proposed federal 2013 budget allocated for the study.
Once the study is completed, the Jacksonville Port Authority can seek funding to start designing the project and ultimately do the dredging, which will likely cost several hundred million dollars.
The Corps is evaluating the environmental and economic impact of dredging to a depth of up to 50 feet. Jacksonville’s current 40-foot ship channel is too shallow to accommodate fully loaded mega-ships that will come through the Panama Canal after 2014.
The administration also called for approval by July 2013 of federal permits for construction of a $30 million railroad yard on Dames Point, the Times Union reported. The yard will transfer cargo containers between ships and trains, giving the TraPac terminal the ability to attract more cargo headed to inland states.