Port Canaveral Closer To Channel Widening

By  //  October 17, 2012

PORT CANAVERAL

BREVARD COUNTY • PORT CANAVERAL, FLORIDA — The Canaveral Port Authority has received unanimous approval for its feasibility study to proceed to agency review, a critical step needed for expediting widening and deepening of Canaveral harbor.

Port Canaveral CEO Stan Payne (Image courtesy Canaveral Port Authority)

On October 3, the Civil Works Review Board for the Feasibility Study for Canaveral Harbor, under Section 203 of the Water Resource Development Act (WRDA) of 1986, gave its unanimous approval for submission to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), which has jurisdiction of all federal navigation projects.

The USACE Jacksonville District is in the process of submitting letters to the Federal and State agencies requesting 30 days review of the proposed report of the Chief of Engineers and the report of the district engineer (Decision Document – Feasibility Report).

The project will be included in the Chief’s report of recommended projects to Congress as early as December 12 and no later than February 13.

The project to widen Port Canaveral’s 400-feet wide harbor by 100 feet and to deepen it by two feet along its three-and-a-half mile length is expected to begin in July 2013 and to be completed in Fall of 2014.

The project proposed in the feasibility study is pending federal authorization in the next WRDA. Port Canaveral began the Section 203 Feasibility Study in 2005. The alternative process trims the timeline for project completion by up to a decade.

The project to widen Port Canaveral’s 400-feet wide harbor by 100 feet and to deepen it by two feet along its three-and-a-half mile length is expected to begin in July 2013 and to be completed in Fall of 2014.

“The Canaveral Port Authority’s decision to embrace the rarely used Section 203 mechanism for this critical project will move us forward dramatically to solidify and grow our cruise and cargo base,” said Port Canaveral CEO Stan Payne.

Florida Governor Rick Scott recently committed $24.4 million in state funding to Port Canaveral’s channel project. Design work for the project is under way.

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