March 26: State Transportation Plan Reflects Kaptur Funding Priorities

“These choices reflect the priorities that I have identified over the past several years,” said Congresswoman Kaptur, citing efforts to develop intermodal transportation capacity, revitalize the Toledo Shipyards, and improve facilities at the Port of Toledo.

“These priorities that can create jobs and bring new economic activity to the area,” Congresswoman Kaptur said. “I look forward to working together with Governor Strickland on further improvements to our transportation infrastructure.”

The governor this morning announced a statewide list of transportation projects that will be funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that was proposed by President Obama and approved by Congress.

The list included the high-bay initiative at the Toledo Shipyards ($15 million), the seaport crane project ($6.8 million), the Airline Yard multi-modal transportation project ($6.5 million) and reconstruction of Otter Creek Road in Oregon ($3 million).

"These choices reflect priorities that can grow our job base and bring new economic activity to the area. Our previous federal investments in making improvements at the Port of Toledo as well as rail and cargo capacity here have resulted in this further investment,” Kaptur said.

Congresswoman Kaptur has led local discussions about an intermodal transportation facility based at the Port of Toledo. She led a local delegation to Nova Scotia last fall to discuss the “Atlantic Gateway” project that would make Toledo a port of destination for global shipping through the St. Lawrence Seaway.“The tandem investments at Airline Yard and the Port of Toledo create opportunities for local business and local job development in a core growth sector of our area’s economy,” Kaptur said.

The shipyard modernization project would renovate the current facility, expand the high-bay building to accommodate new job-creating ventures, and acquire equipment for barge construction and wind power component projection. She estimated that approximately 100 jobs would be created.

Kaptur said the acquisition of a mobile harbor crane could increase capacity significantly at the Port of Toledo, giving it the ability to move up to 35 containers per hour for bulk material handling. She said the facility improvements will give the Port of Toledo a competitive advantage over other ports on the Great Lakes.

“This is another signal to the world that we are serious about competing as a global logistics hub,” Kaptur said. She said a competitive logistics hub would result in new jobs for the local economy.