Office of Public Affairs
SLSDC 1-09
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Contact: Nancy Alcalde
Tel.: 202-366-6114
U.S. SEAWAY CORPORATION RECEIVES FIRST YEAR OF INFRASTRUCTURE RENEWAL
FUNDING
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Saint Lawrence Seaway Development
Corporation (SLSDC) will initiate its planned 10-year program this year to
modernize the infrastructure of the U.S. portion of the St. Lawrence
Seaway, following President Obama’s signing yesterday of the omnibus
appropriations bill to fund the federal government for the remainder of
fiscal year 2009. The bill includes a total of $31.8 million for the
Seaway, which serves the Great Lakes region of North America.
The enacted funding includes more than $17 million allocated to 17
projects under the Seaway’s Asset Renewal Program (ARP). A significant
amount of the ARP funding in FY 2009 will benefit the regional economy
surrounding the two U.S. locks in Massena, N.Y.
“After 50 years of continuous use, the U.S. Seaway infrastructure needs
significant capital investment,” said U.S. SLSDC Administrator Collister
Johnson, Jr. “By enacting this law, President Obama and the U.S. Congress
have recognized the vital importance of the St. Lawrence Seaway to the
North American economy.”
Over the next decade, the ARP will focus on improving aging Seaway
infrastructure, conducting maintenance dredging, investing in new
technologies, purchasing new equipment, and refurbishing old facilities.
This will be the first time in the Seaway’s history that a coordinated
effort to repair and modernize the U.S. Seaway infrastructure has taken
place.
ARP also will complement the asset renewal work already underway on the
Canadian portion of the St. Lawrence Seaway System. None of the ARP
projects will result in increases to the authorized depth or width of the
navigation channel or to the size of the existing U.S. locks.
A copy of the SLSDC’s Asset Renewal Program Capital Investment Plan can be
found at
www.greatlakes-seaway.com/en/pdf/SLSDC_Asset_Renewal_Plan.pdf.
###
DOT Briefing Room
|