President Barack Obama has signed an executive order that will help expedite the permitting and review process for US government infrastructure projects, which will directly benefit US ports.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was quick off the mark in pushing its related infrastructure works through the process with a request that the Bayonne Bridge ‘Raise the Roadway’ project be considered for expedited review.
PANYNJ has committed $1bn to the project to increase the navigational clearance of the Bayonne Bridge from 151 feet to 215 feet, to allow post-panamax ships to access the region in time for the completed expansion of the Panama Canal.
A key part of the plan requires that nationally and regionally significant projects be tracked on a public Federal Infrastructure Projects Dashboard, with Federal agencies required to submit to the Chief Performance Officer a list of nationally and regionally significant infrastructure projects to be publically tracked on the dashboard by April 30.
Source: Port Strategy