USA: Army Corps Gets Additional Funding for Mississippi River Projects

The Vicksburg District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers  recently received an additional $140 million in funding from the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act signed by President Obama on 23 December 2011.

These funds will be used toward 81 Mississippi Rivers and Tributaries (MR&T) projects affected by the historic 2011 flood.

The District developed a list of projects that will benefit from this additional funding that will include 13 channel improvements, 10 dredging operations, 33 projects to repair levees, 23 operations and maintenance projects and repairing structures associated with flood control. Although the District has received a substantial amount of additional funding this will not alleviate the shortage of funds needed to fully fund all of the Districts improvement projects and overall functions. Users can still expect to see reduced services at recreational sites due to the reduction in federal funding allocated for recreational sites.

Project Type Number of Projects Funding per Project Type

Channel Improvements 13 $77,034,000

Dredging Operations 10 $11,190,000

Levees 33 $46,016,000

Operations and Maintenance 23 $3,640,000

Structures 2 $2,126,000

Totals 81 $140,006,000

[mappress]

Dredging Today Staff, March 5, 2012; Image: usace