Miles SmithThe U.S. Department of Transportation has expanded the United States Marine Highway Program, adding 848 miles of new navigable waterways and approving 14 new sponsors.
The Maritime Administration’s (MARAD) addition of marine highway network routes in the USMHP is expected to reduce landside congestion and boost maritime transport throughout the U.S.
The network now covers approximately 27,139 miles across 35 designated routes, bolstering U.S. supply chains, critical infrastructure and maritime workforce development, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced last week.
MARAD’s plan involves an approximately $350 million investment in helping businesses, school districts and state and local governments that are looking to build infrastructure and purchase equipment and vessels that would allow them to utilize the expanded network.
The administration expects to award 25 USMHP grants of up to $14 million each at a later date.
A major component of the expansion is the strengthening of the M-90 route, which spans 2,345 miles through the Great Lakes from Minnesota to New York.
Seven new sponsors have joined to support the improved route, including the state departments of transportation for Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan and New York, as well as the Ports of Indiana and the Erie-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority.
The expansion also includes four newly designated routes:
- The M-23 (Big Sandy River, 20 miles), co-sponsored by Kentucky and West Virginia DOTs.
- The M-24 (Cumberland River, 382 miles), co-sponsored by Kentucky and Tennessee DOTs.
- The M-165 (Green River, 109 miles), sponsored by Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.
- The M-167 (Ouachita River, 337 miles), co-sponsored by Louisiana Department of Transportation & Development and Arkansas Waterways Commission.
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