US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced Thursday that the Department of Transportation will provide $10 million to support infrastructure improvements for the Southeast Baltimore Port Industry Freight Corridor Plan. The project is one of 39 federally-funded transportation projects in 34 states selected to receive a total of $500 million under the Department’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) 2015 program.
“Transportation is always about the future. If we're just fixing today's problems, we'll fall further and further behind. We already know that a growing population and increasing freight traffic will require our system to do more," said Secretary Foxx. “In this round of TIGER, we selected projects that focus on where the country’s transportation infrastructure needs to be in the future; ever safer, ever more innovative, and ever more targeted to open the floodgates of opportunity across America.”
The Southeast Baltimore Port Industry Freight Corridor Plan helps the Port of Baltimore be a better neighbor to Baltimore residents. The project includes improvements along the Broening Highway freight corridor to better, and more safely, connect the Port of Baltimore to the regional and national road network. The project includes the replacement of the structurally deficient and functionally obsolete Colgate Creek Bridge, roadway improvements connecting freight directly to I-95 to enhance truck movement, and complete streets improvements to make neighborhoods more accommodating to walking and bicycle traffic.
“In Maryland, access to the Port of Baltimore means access to economic opportunity,” Federal Highway Administrator Gregory Nadeau said. “This TIGER grant will bring transportation investment to the area and enhance prospects for trade-driven, long-term growth there, by improving the ability of trucks to move freight safely and more efficiently along roads and bridges near Baltimore.”