07.21.11

Durbin: Metro East Port District Project to Receive Additional $8.5 Million in Funds

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today announced that the Department of Transportation has awarded an additional $8,500,000 in funding Tri-City Regional Port District for a project to continue construction on a regional multimodal transportation hub in Metro East, Illinois.  This award was part of $15,000,000 in Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program funding that was redistributed by the Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, earlier today.

 

“This project will reduce congestion along the Mississippi River and promote the economic competitiveness of the Metro East region,” said Durbin.  “I commend local leaders and Congressman Costello for their work on the project and Secretary LaHood for his decision to award additional funding today.”

 

Last February, $6,000,000 in funding was awarded for the project – known as the Southwest Regional Intermodal Freight Transportation Hub – which involves construction of a new harbor and connecting rail lines for an multimodal inland waterway transportation barge port and associated rail and truck facility in Madison County, Illinois.

 

In May, Durbin joined Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Susan Collins (R-ME) to introduce the bipartisan Transportation Infrastructure Grants and Economic Reinvestment Act), a bill that would authorize continued funding for the successful TIGER grant program, invest in a variety of transportation modes, select projects through a transparent, competitive and merit-based process and require the Secretary of Transportation to provide a full description of how applications will be evaluated. The grant program – originally created by Durbin, Murray, Lautenberg and others and funded in the Senate version of the Recovery Act – also ensures that projects across the country are funded, and includes several provisions to balance the needs of urban and rural areas