The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (Marad) announced yesterday the availability of $25 million in funding for America’s Marine Highway Program (AMHP).
AMHP supports the development and expanded use of U.S. navigable waterways and will help improve U.S. supply chains and the movement of goods throughout the country, Marad said.
These new resources represent the largest single appropriation of funding ever provided to the AMHP and were made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (Investment in Infrastructure and Jobs Act), which will make a $1.2 trillion investment in U.S. infrastructure and competitiveness.
“America’s waterways are a vital means for getting goods onto our shelves and into our homes,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. “Thanks to these investments, and others like them in the president’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we can help create jobs, reduce delays, and strengthen our critical supply chains for decades to come.”
“This historic funding for the Marine Highways Program will expand waterborne transportation options while helping project sponsors increase energy conservation, improve safety, reduce landside infrastructure costs, and reduce travel delays caused by congestion. This investment will also create well-paying maritime jobs,” said Acting Maritime Administrator Lucinda Lessley.
AMHP supports the increased use of U.S. navigable waterways to relieve landside congestion, provide new and efficient transportation options, and increase the productivity of the surface transportation system. By working closely with public and private organizations, AMHP helps create and sustain U.S. jobs in U.S. ports, on U.S. vessels, and at U.S. shipyards, while also improving our supply chains, Marad said.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law's goal is to rebuild U.S. roads, bridges and rails; upgrade and expand public transit; modernize U.S. ports and airports; improve safety; help tackle the climate crisis; advance environmental justice; and invest in communities that have too often been left behind.
To be eligible for a grant award, a project must have previously been designated as a Marine Highway Project by the Department of Transportation. For more information on the eligible projects, please visit here.
Applications for the grants are due on April 29, 2022, by 5 p.m. EST. Additional information is available here, or by contacting Timothy Pickering, Office of Ports and Waterways Planning, 1200 New Jersey Ave., SE, Washington, DC 20590, 202-366-0704 or [email protected].
