The Port Commission of the Port of Houston Authority met recently with stakeholders, federal government representatives, and member of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to explore ways to accelerate the widening of the Houston Ship Channel.
The project, which will mark the 11th significant expansion of the nation’s busiest waterway, will include widening of the entire Galveston Bay reach as part of the latest dredging project. To ensure unimpeded access to the 52-mile channel’s upper reaches, the Commission is coupling this with a business rule that only one vessel large enough to demand one-way traffic will be able to access a Port Authority Terminal each week. The commission will be taking on proposals for Port Authority and industry funding to support the ship channel endeavor.
The expansion is even more important due to the fact that Houston currently houses the largest petrochemical manufacturing complex in the Western Hemisphere, and has seen increased traffic due to the expansion of the Panama Canal, as well as significant area population growth.
Such demands have also prompted the Commission to budget $500,000 for a traffic efficiency group to collect data and advise on ways to optimize traffic flow in the channel.