August 8 - The US Department of Transportation has recommended to Congress that the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor receive one of 10 Fastlane small project grants for 2017.
The USD9.85 million grant would provide partial funding for a USD19.7 million expansion of the port's infrastructure, including the construction of a 2.3 acre (0.9 ha) cargo terminal with multimodal connections for handling cargo transfers between ships, barges, rail cars and trucks.
In addition to increasing its rail capacity and developing a 6 acre (2.4 ha) truck marshalling yard, improvements to the west dock will result in an additional 1,200 ft (365.8 m) of usable dock space.
"These investments will allow the Port of Indiana to increase its multimodal freight handling capabilities to help meet anticipated future demand," said Ports of Indiana ceo Rich Cooper. "This grant will permit us to further accelerate our investments to help attract new companies and new cargoes to the region."
The grants are subject to a 60-day review period, in which Congress can vote to disapprove projects.
