Casey: another $97.5 million set aside for Delaware River deepening

The cutting blade of a dredge is lifted for maintenance of the motor system on the Delaware, 1.5 miles east of Delaware City, Del. DAVID M WARREN / Staff Photographer

The Delaware River dredging project will receive another $97.5 million in federal funding, the most ever set aside in a single year, according to the office of Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.).

The Army Corps of Engineers has agreed to use $62.5 million of existing but unallocated funding for the project, Casey’s office said, and another $35 million was included in the spending bill approved by Congress and signed into law late last year. The money will cover work in both fiscal years 2015 and 2016.

Before now, the most set aside at one time for the project was $41 million, Casey’s office said.

Casey has repeatedly pressed administration officials to support the long-running project through letters and meetings, as have numerous other lawmakers from Philadelphia and the region.

The project to deepen a 103-mile stretch of river by five feet was first authorized by Congress in 1992, and it was 60 percent complete at the start of this year, Casey’s office said. The project aims to make the channel outside Philadelphia deep enough to accommodate larger ships.

Source: Philly.com