Intracoastal Waterway gets $48.5M for dredging in FY 2024
The Fiscal Year 2024 Energy and Water Appropriations bill recently passed with bipartisan support by the U.S. Congress and with additional funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, is delivering $48.5 million to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for a FY 2024 work plan to address critical waterway maintenance and dredging issues in five states.
There’s good news for the hundreds of thousands of boaters who use the 1,100-mile Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AIWW) each year, known as “Marine Highway 95,” which transits ten states from Norfolk, Virgini, to Key West, Florida.
The breakdown of funding is as follows:
- Virginia: $5.3 million
- North Carolina: $26.6 million
- South Carolina: $8.5 million
- Georgia: $4 million
- Florida: $4 million
The waterway’s chief advocate, the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Association (AIWA), has worked for more than a decade to restore sufficient dredging funding to return the waterway to its authorized depth of 12 feet. The Waterway was authorized in the 1939 Rivers and Harbors Act and the USACE is responsible for its maintenance. Shoaling in certain locations continues to threaten passage of recreational and commercial vessels.