Long-term approach sought to waterways fix

Long-term approach sought to waterways fix    The Waterways Council met in Washington Monday to press congressional support for a set of recommendations to improve the reliability of the U.S. inland navigation system over the next 20 years.
   The plan was developed over a year by the Inland Marine Transportation System Investment Strategy Team, comprised of key U.S. Army Corp of Engineers personnel and waterways industry representatives, including members of the congressionally established Inland Waterways Users Board.
   The recommendations prioritize navigation projects across the entire system, improve the Corps of Engineers’ project management and process to deliver on time and on budget, and recommend a funding mechanism that is affordable and meets the system’s needs, the Waterways Council said.
   Specifically, the recommendations would preserve the existing 50-50 cost sharing between industry and federal government for new lock construction and major rehabilitation projects costing at least $100 million, while adjusting the current model to provide that dam construction and repair and smaller lock rehabilitation projects would be 100 percent federally funded.
   Also recommended is a cost-share cap on all new lock construction projects that would protect the Inland Waterways Trust Fund by preventing the industry from having to fund significant cost overruns.
   The Waterways Council said the new recommendations would require a 30 to 40 percent increase in the 20 cents per gallon fuel tax currently paid by the barge and towing industry. The increase is ‘viewed as worth the investment by industry in order to improve the viability and efficiency of America’s inland waterways system,’ the council said.
   ‘Stakeholders in government and within industry are strongly committed to this consensus-based long-term capital plan that will help ensure that our country continues to derive the benefit from our energy-efficient, congestion-relieving waterways transportation system,’ said Waterways Council President Cornel Martin, in a statement. ‘These recommendations urge funding parameters for the entire system rather than simply on a project by project basis and help improve the reliability of this critical transportation system.’
   For more details about the condition of the inland waterways system and the plan, read the October 2009 American Shipper, pages 40-43. ‘ Chris Gillis