Posted on January 30, 2018
By Robert McCabe, The Virginian-Pilot
The Port of Virginia’s plan to deepen and widen its channels is moving full speed ahead, with a blessing from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers now hoped for by late June.In anticipation of that and to avoid any ensuing downtime, $20 million has been included in the pending state budget to tee up preliminary engineering and design work on the dredging project.
Port officials said the state would eventually get a credit for half of the $20 million because the costs are split.
“It’s a federal-state share, the overall project,” said John Milliken, the Virginia Port Authority board chairman, after board members were briefed on the matter this month.
For port executives to be able to tell federal officials in Congress that the state has already appropriated the first chunk of money is a critical talking point, he added.
“They’re still going to pay half of the engineering and design,” said John Reinhart, the authority’s executive director and CEO, “but we’re just front-loading it to accelerate the process.”
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently agreed to expedite its review of the project, so that now its final report and recommendation to Congress is anticipated by midyear instead of December.
That would enable the port to get the project included in this year’s Water Resources Development Act, rather than having to wait another two years, port officials said.
Source: The Virginian-Pilot
