Posted on May 28, 2025
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will continue expansion work near Houston.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Port Houston have been addressing the need to evolve the area’s busy shipping complex over the past several years with a massive, ongoing project to expand the Houston Ship Channel. That project just got another financial boost from the Army Corps, which allocated $131 million in total for 2025 work at Port Houston. It’s one of two Southeast Texas waterway projects that received funding during this round.
The Port Commission of Port Houston announced the $131 million funding at its May 20 meeting. The funding is actually a combination of two separate allocations: $98 million is earmarked for operations and maintenance, specifically to ensure the Houston Ship Channel is dredged and operational; and $33 million is going toward the Project 11 channel expansion project.
Project 11, a $1 billion federal project by the Army Corps with Port Houston local sponsorship, was announced in 2020 after Congress approved the widening and deepening of the channel. When finished, the channel will be 700 feet wide, increased from its previous width of 530 feet. The dredging work began in 2022 and is expected to be complete by 2028.
“Thank you to everyone who pulled together to get this done, including our industry partners, customers, congressional delegation, and specifically Congressman Wesley Hunt and Congressman Brian Babin, who worked around the clock to make sure we got what we needed,” Port Commission Chairman Ric Campo said May 20 after announcing the funding.
Sabine-Neches Waterway
Meanwhile, the Army Corps allocated $172.7 million for the deepening of the Sabine-Neches Waterway in Port Arthur. That project, which will deepen the waterway from 40 to 48 feet, costs $1.2 billion in total.
“This is a great day for Southeast Texas, and we are glad President Trump is back in office to prioritize critical projects like the Sabine-Neches Waterway, one of the most vital waterway systems in the country,” said U.S. Rep. Randy Weber (R-Port Arthur) in a statement. “This funding will strengthen America’s energy and national security, continue to grow our economy, and support jobs right here at home.”
The Army Corps annually funds projects aimed at mitigating natural disaster impacts. It had a smaller construction budget to work with this year, however, after the budget was slashed as part of a stopgap bill House Republicans introduced and Trump signed in March to keep the government open through September. Nevertheless, The Hill reported that congressional Democrats, armed with data collected by Democratic staff for the Senate Appropriations Committee, believe the Army Corps purposely disproportionately directed funding to Republican states in this round under Trump.
“President Trump has unilaterally chosen to punish the people living in certain states—a historic and clear abuse of taxpayer dollars,” read a joint statement from Democratic House appropriations committee members U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio. “This is the exact scenario we feared when House Republicans introduced their slush fund 2025 funding bill, which failed to reflect both Republican and Democratic priorities.”
