According to today's USDA Grain Transportation Report, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)—through its first round of Large Bridge Project Grants of the competitive Bridge Investment Program (BIP)—recently fundedfour bridge projects, at least two of which should facilitate the fluid transport of grain.
In Covington, KY, $1.385 billion in BIP funding will be used to rehabilitate and reconfigure the existing Brent Spence Bridge. Currently, the bride is the Nations second-worst truck bottleneck, and the overhaul is expected to improve interstate and local traffic flow between the communities on either side of the Ohio River.
In Chicago, IL, $144 million in BIP funding will rehabilitate four bridges over the Calumet River, which connects Lake Michigan with the Lake Calumet Port District. The Lake Calumet Port District, in turn, connects to the Illinois River, a major tributary of the Mississippi River.
Rehabilitating these bridges ensures the bridges continue to allow barge and ship traffic to access the Illinois International Port and beyond. According to Freight Analysis Framework data, over 994,000 tons of cereal grain and animal feed was shipped by truck between Ohio and Kentucky in 2017.