Both chambers of Congress have reached an agreement on the Inland Waterways Trust Fund that could speed up completion of the Chickamauga Lock project by six years.
The agreement would authorize more funding for the pool of money that pays for infrastructure projects connected by U.S. waterways. The Chickamauga Lock falls behind other projects on the list. Coupled with a congressional earmark ban, progress on the project has been stalled since 2011.
With broad bipartisan support, the House passed the Water Resources Reform and Development Act Tuesday. The legislation would boost funding and move the Chickamauga Lock further up the list of waterways projects. The project was initially projected to be complete by 2026.
“When I was elected by the great people of the 3rd District of Tennessee in 2010, I vowed to come to Washington, D.C., to fix broken systems,” Rep. Chuck Fleischmann said from the House floor. “[This bill] does that.”
He said the Inland Waterways Trust Fund is a “flawed, broken system” because all of its money has been going to the Olmstead Lock project in Kentucky, starving out the other locks in the system. The Chickamauga Lock project has been mothballed because “the system has been broken,” he said.
“Finally, this great House has solved this problem,” he said. “It is a huge step in the right direction.”
“This act is good news, finally putting Chickamauga Lock fourth in the line of essential American waterways to be rebuilt and authorizing new funding to do it,” Sen. Lamar Alexander said in a prepared statement.
He also urged Congress to accept an offer by barge owners to pay higher fees that would accelerate work on the project.
Rep. Scott DesJarlais said in a prepared statement that it’s important to “fund and maintain critical infrastructure like the Chickamauga Lock.”
“Not only is maintaining Tennessee’s waterways important for our state, it is important for the overall health of our nation’s economy,” he said.
