Source: United States Senator for Kentucky Mitch McConnell
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced today the Department of Transportation (DOT) will provide $17,331,850 to the Green River Area Development District to rehabilitate the Rockport Railroad Bridge that spans the Green River between Kentucky’s Ohio and Muhlenberg counties.
DOT awarded this grant as part of the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) program, which awards competitive grants for freight and highway projects. Senator McConnell helped secure $3.2 billion for the INFRA program in the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which passed Congress last year with the Senator’s support, and which the President signed into law last November. Senator McConnell also wrote to Secretary of Transportation Buttigieg in support of the Green River Area Development District’s grant application.
The current Rockport Bridge is over one hundred years old and serves as the Paducah & Louisville Railway’s main rail line in Ohio County, servicing more than 110,000 freight carloads annually. It forms a critical link in the supply chains that deliver military equipment to Fort Knox, coal to Louisville Gas & Electric, and raw materials to manufacturers all along the railroad’s 260-mile span.
The Green River Area Development District will use the grant announced today to rehabilitate the Rockport Railroad Bridge by replacing its deck, improving the approaches to the bridge, and upgrading the electrical and mechanical components that allow the bridge to rise and accommodate river traffic.
“Today’s grant announcement is a long time coming and will help our state overhaul one of the most critical bottlenecks in our entire rail system. I supported the bipartisan infrastructure bill because of projects precisely like this one: a longstanding transportation headache that, for too long, has gone unaddressed by leaders in Washington. I congratulate the entire Green River area on their successful grant application and look forward to watching this bridge rehabilitation project spur greater development along the entire Paducah & Louisville Railway corridor,” said Senator McConnell.
“We are thrilled with today’s announcement and thank Senator McConnell for his support of our grant application and the bipartisan infrastructure bill that funded the critical INFRA grant program. The Rockport Railroad Bridge has been a longstanding issue in our area, impacting Kentucky’s entire freight transportation network. We are excited to see this bridge project move forward and bring future economic development to our region,” said Joanna Shake, Green River Area Development District Executive Director.