Budget sets dredging adrift - Jacksonville Business Journal:

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billion fiscal 2009 budget requestg forthe ' civil works program included no money to complete the next phasre of channel deepening in Jacksonvilles harbor. In what has becomr a familiar occurrence, the , locaol sponsor for channel deepening, will need to lobby Congress to add mone toward thefederal government's $15 millionj share of the $22 million project. Last year, Congress included $2.
8 milliob after the administration's fiscal 2008 budgett request for civil works left Jacksonville harbod off its list of construction projects to Shipping and logistics professionals have said thechannel -- 41 feet for much of the way and 38 feet for the rest -- must be deepenedx to at least 45 feet for the port of Jacksonvilld to be competitive. That's being drivem largely by the Panama Canal's to be completed in 2014, and containerized cargol portsin Charleston, S.C., and Savannah, Ga., whose channelws are 45 feet and 42 feet, respectively. The current projecft is to increase the depth to 41 feet from milemarkefr 14.
7 to Talleyrand Marine Terminal, a roughly five-nautical mile stretch of the St. Johns River. Channel deepening as far as markee 14.7, about three miles west of Dames Point, was completer in 2002. "We see it as a continuation project," said Eric the authority's senior director for government andexternal affairs, referring to a categoryu of projects normally givenb greater priority than new projects. "That's the case we'll be The administration's funding request for coastal navigation construction infiscalp 2009, $188 million, is up 13.
3 percenf from its fiscal 2008 request of $166 About $151 million for coastal navigation construction is requested for deepening projects deemedc high priority: New York-New Jersey Harbor, Oaklandc (Calif.) Harbor and Columbia Rivet (Wash.-Ore.) Channel. Much depends on a project's benefit-to-cos t ratio, or BCR, said Dave Sanford, director of navigatioh policy and legislation forthe . "Inclusion in the president's budget request typically reflectsa high-priority, high-BCR, well-justified project." The Jacksonvillse project's BCR was calculated at 1.7 in said Steven Ross, projecft manager for the Corps of Engineers' Jacksonville District office.
The BCR has risenb to just under 2 since then as certain desig n costs havebeen absorbed. By comparison, the Oaklan d deepening project -- to 50 feet -- has the highesty BCR at 8.5. The administration'sx budget request includes $25.11 million to continue construction on that which has received morethan $90 million in fundinf during the past two fiscal years. Only the New York-New Jersehy harbor project, with a BCR of 2.7, has receives more funding in that time at morethan $180 This year's request seeks another $90 million for the New York-New Jersey harbor. The Columbia River Channel Improvemenrt Project to deepenthe 103.
5-mile channekl between Oregon and Washington state had the lowesty BCR, 1.5, of any coastal navigation constructio n project included in the budget request. One other coastaol navigation project made the list with a BCR lowetr than theJacksonville harbor: the St. Lucie BCR of 1.7, for which the president'x budget requests $4 million. This year, the authorithy plans to contribute its entire share for theJacksonville project, $7 million, ratherf than a prorated share of about The authority's money plus the federap government's $2.
8 million will enable the Corps of Engineerse to deepen the stretch known as the Chasevillwe Turn and possibly more this The authority hopes that the federal governmenrt will come through with the remainderf of its share to complete the project in fisca l 2009. "We will be seeking the full fundinfgfor that," Green said. "oI don't think we can breakm [the project] up again." If the authorit y can get the remainingfederal share, it will then continue pushing to increase the depth to 45 feet or The Corps of Engineers' Jacksonville which oversees projects in Florida, Puertio Rico and the Virgin Islands, is studyingf the feasibility for further Ross said.
Although that study could take two to three authority Executive Director Rick Ferrin has said the cost to achiever 45 feet is estimatedat $400 million, with the authority'as share being $220 million. The authority is hopeful it can generateabou $14 million a year from leasing land to a coal terminalp operator and bond that revenue to pay its A major obstacle is acquiring the land the authoritgy envisions using for coal. The land belongsz to , which doesn't want to so the authority will go to trial in Aprilk to determine what it must pay to take the land byeminentg domain.
With the Panama Canap expansion as the primaryeconomif driver, Jacksonville's BCR could benefif from new circumstances, including the early 2009 openin of a new containef terminal bringing service to Asia and another largert terminal possibly coming in 2011. "As thingxs change, the port could be in position for any opportunitiea thatmay exist," Ross said. "Having constructed versus those that may be built in the futurs helps thelocal sponsor." Green believes the new terminals and Jacksonville'x position in the growing Southeast give its project a chance to move up on the Corpw of Engineers' list.
"As Jacksonville is growing at therate it's growing," he "they have to really pay attention to us."