Gov. Walker: Announces over $8 million in harbor grants

• City of Superior (Douglas County) – $1.7 million to install new sheet piling at the Cenex Harvest States, Inc. facility in Superior to maintain a safe berth and extend the life of the grain elevator.
• City of Washburn (Bayfield County) – $1,299,480 to reconstruct the northerly wall of the City Dock to preserve the only commercial deep draft harbor in the region. The City Dock is three blocks from the City’s central business district and serves as one of the last working bulk cargo docks in the Chequamegon Bay. Businesses in the Town of La Pointe on Madeline Island and others in the surrounding community rely on the City Dock.
• SS Badger (Manitowoc County) – $1,016,500 to make permanent repairs to the damaged, failed steel pile bulkhead and fender system damaged during the 2015-2016 winter. The S.S. Badger was awarded emergency HAP funds in 2016 to make repairs to the bulkhead and keep the car ferry operational.
• Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding (Door County) – $3,623,600 to improve the dock wall construction and dredge the sediment to increase the production capacity of the shipyard and enhance operational efficiency. This grant, combined with other additional funding, will enable the shipyard to undertake more ship building and repair/outfitting projects.
• KK Integrated Logistics (Brown County) – $452,975 to complete repairs to the dock wall enabling vessels to moor along the dock wall to load and unload shipments. Currently vessels are directed to other docks and ports, without the warehousing capacity nearby.

The Wisconsin’s Harbor Assistance Program was created in 1979 to help harbor communities maintain and improve waterborne commerce. All applications for this program are reviewed by the Harbor Advisory Council, which includes members from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, UW Sea Grant, Wisconsin Coastal Management Program, Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the Great Lakes Maritime Research Institute.

Through 2016, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation has administered more than $138 million in matching funds for 107 port preservation and improvement projects along the Great Lakes and Mississippi River.

Applications are accepted from public or private harbor facilities for projects that benefit facilities used for cargo transfer, ship building, commercial fishing, vessel cruises or ferry service. All projects must have a transportation efficiency benefit-cost ratio greater than one over a 25-year project life and be identified in a current three-year harbor development plan. Selection criteria include economic impact, urgency and project type. Those interested in the next round of Harbor Assistance Project grants should note that the deadline for the next cycle is August 1, 2018.

For more information about Wisconsin’s Harbor Assistance program or to review past grant awards, visit:http://wisconsindot.gov/Pages/doing-bus/local-gov/astnce-pgms/aid/harbor.aspx.