TIGER grant fuels Public-Private Partnership at the Port of Jacksonville
America’s growing population will require our nation’s freight network to haul 4 billion more tons of international freight annually by 2050, roughly the weight of 40,000 Washington Monuments. Since over 90 percent of imported cargo by volume already moves through our nation's ports today, a good portion of that 4 billion tons will be transported on American waterways and through our ports and intermodal hubs. So our infrastructure must be ready.
That’s why I was especially proud to help break ground yesterday on an Intermodal Container Transfer Facility (ICTF) at the Jacksonville Port Authority (JAXPORT) in Florida. By increasing the efficiency and speed of container transfer between vessels and trains, the new ICTF will help JAXPORT support America’s future freight requirements and create long-term economic opportunities for the Jacksonville region in the form of good paying jobs.
Funded by a $10 million 2011 TIGER grant and a partnership between JAXPORT, CSX, and the Florida Department of Transportation, the ICTF is an outstanding example of the type of public-private partnerships that Secretary Foxx has called for, and just the kind of transportation teamwork that we would like to see reproduced across the country.
The Obama Administration understands the vital role that marine transportation plays in meeting our nation’s current and future freight needs. That’s why, since 2009, it has invested more than $420 million in 33 port and marine highway projects, including more than $44 million for infrastructure projects in Florida.
In addition, the Department’s surface transportation reauthorization proposal, GROW AMERICA, includes $5 billion for the TIGER grant program, and $10 billion for a new, multimodal grant program to help further expand and improve our intermodal freight network.
Through actions like these, the Obama Administration continues to demonstrate that it values America’s ports, waterways, and intermodal hubs, and is committed to seeing more freight projects like the JAXPORT ICTF become a reality.
