Resource Center: Ports & Inland Waterways

Overview

The IIJA provides $17 billion of investment in inland waterways and ports and addresses a number of recommendations that were included in the 2021 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. For reference, the 2021 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure found a $25 billion gap over 10 years in the inland waterways and ports categories. The $17 billion in additional funding for landside infrastructure investments at ports and inland waterways would significantly contribute to decreasing the investment gap.

MARAD IIJA Portal: https://www.maritime.dot.gov/about-us/bipartisan-infrastructure-law-maritime-administration

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Legislation Summary

The IIJA provides $17 billion of investment in inland waterways and ports through various grant and formula programs. Specifically, the legislation provides $10 billion from the Highway Trust Fund to the INFRA program over five years and increases the share that can go toward intermodal projects from $600 million total to approximately $3 billion. Additionally, the appropriations title of IIJA provides $3.2 billion to INFRA, bringing the total program funding to $13.2 billion.

The share of freight formula dollars toward multimodal projects has also been increased to 30 percent. In total, the formula program includes $7.15 billion over five years, meaning about $2.145 billion is available for multimodal freight projects, including those inside a port gate. This is a significant increase from $630 million provided to multimodal projects from the freight formula program in the FAST Act.

The IIJA also creates a new program through which ports are eligible for funding, the “Local and Regional Project Assistance Program.” This smaller-dollar competitive grant program can provide funding to port projects, with grants ranging from $1 million to $25 million, depending on the project location.

Further, MARAD provides $2.25 billion to the Port Infrastructure Development Program through the appropriations title, or about $450 million a year. In FY20, the program was funded at just $220 million a year. Funding is reserved for multimodal connections to ports and resiliency considerations are now added to grant eligibility.

Additionally, the bill improves multimodal coordination among states. It re-codifies state freight advisory committees and invites representatives from multimodal modes, including ports, to participate. The legislation also creates an Office of Multimodal Freight Infrastructure and Policy at USDOT to help implement national multimodal freight policy and distribute grants.

The IIJA answers a number of 2021 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure ports and inland waterways recommendations. While the bill does not completely remove the multimodal cap associated with INFRA and the freight formula program, it does increase the share that can go toward port and rail projects. Additionally, as called for in the 2021 ports chapter, the bill improves coordination among ports as part of state freight plans. The legislation attempts to better integrate intelligent transportation systems into the freight transportation network by conducting a study on these issues and rewards grant applicants for incorporating new technologies into their proposals.

Importantly, the National Highway Freight program – the formula funding program for freight projects – now includes among eligible uses the modernization or rehabilitation of a lock or dam if that project is part of the National Highway Freight Network and is likely to reduce on-road emissions. This change answers the ASCE Report Card recommendation to strategically direct resources to deserving inland waterway projects.

To address infrastructure resiliency, the IIJA:

Provides $100 million annually, over five years for the Safeguarding Tomorrow through Ongoing Risk Mitigation (STORM) Act. ASCE strongly advocated for increased appropriations for the STORM Act, which was enacted earlier this year and created a Resilience Revolving Loan Fund.
Make an additional $1 billion available in grants for the FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) Program. BRIC is FEMA’s pre-disaster hazard mitigation program that replaces the existing Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) program and a program that ASCE continues to strongly advocate for.
Includes $7 billion for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) infrastructure priorities; $3.5 billion for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Flood Mitigation Assistance Program; $492 million for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Coastal Resilience Fund; and $491 million for NOAA Community-Based Restoration Project.
Addresses environment restoration by investing in a number of existing programs, with a total of $2.6 billion to provide for ecosystem restoration. This figure includes $500 million for the USACE aquatic ecosystem restoration program, which works to restore degraded ecosystem structures, and natural processes to a more natural condition. Also included is $1.8 billion for EPA ecosystems restoration projects (such as the Great Lake Restoration Initiative, Chesapeake Bay Program, and others). Plus $207 million for NOAA’s Coastal Zone Management Program.

Report Card Wins

The passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act – IIJA – represents a historic, once-in-a-generation investment in our roads, bridges, water and wastewater networks, ports, electric grid, dams, and more. It increases funding, makes smart improvements to policy such as streamlining permitting, and it creates new programs targeted at all 17 categories in the 2021 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. The bill is a significant down payment on the $2.5 trillion infrastructure investment gap that was identified in the 2021 Report Card and will benefit American businesses and families for years to come.

IIJA addresses 7 of ASCE’s recommendations concerning ports and inland waterways. ASCE’s recommendations focus on prioritizing limited funding, cost sharing, improved coordination and management, and new technology. The IIJA invests $17 billion in inland waterways and ports IIJA also creates new programs which provides grants to improve facilities, operations, and intermodal connections near or within seaports, inland ports, and Great Lakes ports.