Study highlights economic benefits of modern U.S. inland waterways

National Waterways Foundation study shows economic impacts and benefits of modernizing the aging U.S. inland waterways freight transportation network.    A newly published study by the National Waterways Foundation shows the economic impacts and benefits of modernizing the aging U.S. inland waterways freight transportation network.
   NWF commissioned the two-year study, “Inland Navigation in the United States: An Evaluation of Economic Impacts and the Potential Effects of Infrastructure Investment,” with the universities of Tennessee and Kentucky.
   “Investment in badly needed modernization improvements to our inland waterways’ aging lock and dam infrastructure could lead to 350,000 job-years of new, full-time employment with a present value of more than $14 billion over the 10-year period examined in the study,” NWF said in its summary of the study. “If we invest in our inland waterways, we can sustain 541,000 jobs and more than $1 billion in new job income annually.”
   The study evaluated the inland navigation system as it’s currently funded and set up, and as it might be through renewed infrastructure investment. 
   The authors of the study wrote that new additions to Inland Waterway Trust Fund totals, as reflected in the 2014 Water Resources Reform and Development Act, “would mean a larger number of additional navigation projects could be undertaken more quickly than would otherwise be possible.”
   There are 21 significant navigation projects along the waterways with an estimated cost of $5.8 billion highlighted within the study. If these projects could be completed quickly, the 20-year economic benefits would exceed $82 billion, according to the study’s authors.
   “Although not likely in the current fiscal environment, if the completion of those projects were accelerated to 10 years, between 10,000 and 15,000 new jobs with an annual economic value of $800 million could become available. In the second decade, the completed navigation improvements could result in 10,000 new jobs throughout the economy each year with a total income of $740 million in the first year to more than $1 billion by year-20,” NWF said in a press release.
   The complete 98-page report may be viewed here.